Vishal Saurav, a B.Tech in Electrical & Electronics Engineering from Dayanand Sagar College, Bangalore, is a young entrepreneur originally from Ranchi who quitted his job as a software engineer to pursue his dream of becoming a change-maker in the society and started his own startup venture ‘Xboom’. Established in March 2015, Xboom is a one-stop platform that provides safety and security devices across categories ranging from Women’s safety, home safety, personal safety, vehicle safety to defense. His aim in life is to establish a safe society for people especially women and through his work he aims to bring a change in life of the general public.
With the COVID-19 Virus rapidly crawling into the skin of humanity worldwide, the world is in complete chaos. Economy going down, stock markets are crashing, and business shutdowns have led the world to face a blow almost after a century. Taking precautions and not panicking are the most essential parts that must be followed by everyone. The picture of the world created in the past two months after the outbreak of the virus in Wuhan, China, is absolutely haunting.
As the virus is highly infectious, isolation is the best possible way known to mankind to prevent this disease. Schools and colleges are being shut down, offices are promoting work from home culture, multiplexes and shopping malls are strictly ordered to be closed, airports and railways stations are avoided, and streets are empty. People have completely isolated themselves while the economy faces a severe blow that will need years to compensate for the loss it is facing.
Impact of the Pandemic
- With more than 210 countries and territories being affected by the virus, about 303,555 people have already died and 4,359,401 people have been tested positive.
- Educational Institutions, offices, factories, and industries have been shut down completely to prevent mass gatherings.
- People are advised to stay as much as possible at their homes to avert contamination with the COVID-19 virus.
- With offices being closed, companies are promoting work from home culture.
- Travelling to the affected countries has been strictly prohibited. Airports sharing both domestic and international flights are fumigated and under strict observation. Airports and railway stations are completely vacant.
- Delegates and heads of the countries are constantly in touch with each other and sharing data, pieces of information and research materials on the virus.
- SAARC and the UN have taken numerous steps to help each other in this scary situation.
- Funds have been made to aid the affected countries.
- The World Health Organization is constantly uploading precautionary measures that are useful in this scenario for the masses to follow.
- Health care facilities are built all over the world to meet the crisis. Doctors and nurses are trained to treat the patients.
- The government is taking the necessary steps to educate people more about the spread of the virus and how they can protect themselves by using telecommunication methods and posters.
Impact on The Economy
The Global Economy is facing a devastating blow by the lockdown and isolation of masses rather than the virus itself. With people stocking up their needs for future use and complete shutdown of industries and offices, the economy is drastically going down. Various multinational companies, manufacturing industries are vacant which has resulted in stagnant growth of the financial resources. Some of the major impacts of the pandemic has been done to:
- Manufacturing Industries
As China was the epicenter of the outbreak, most of the Chinese industries and manufacturing units have been completely shut down. China faces the sharpest blow that it has ever seen in centuries. With the termination of production in China, numerous industries from all over the world, including India, like pharmaceutical, technological, automobile, etc are facing disruption as they depended on China for their raw materials.
- Tourism
As more than 166 countries are affected by the virus today, tourism is severely affected. People are banned to travel to these high-risk prone places. Airports and Railway Stations are completely vacant as people are scared to travel. Business tours are cancelled, and leisure travels are completely zero, which together contributed about 887 million dollars to the Asian GDP in 2017. Experts claim that the effect will last until the next year.
- Stock Market
Within a few weeks of its outbreak, Corona Virus has destroyed about one-third of the global stock market. Indian stock market faces a strong plunge from the peak it received two months ago. According to a report by the BBC, the US is seeing the worst fall since 1987.
- Hyper Local Deliveries and E-commerce
The biggest impact that the COVID-19 has created is the isolation of people. People are scared to get out of their homes even for the purchase of basic necessities. As a result, they are more dependent on e-commerce platforms and vendors offering hyper local deliveries at their doorsteps. This has led to the flourishing of business. Goods like sanitizers, hand washes, tissues and masks are at their peak of sale while fashion items, cosmetics and packaged food sales have decreased drastically.
As the economy of the world is witnessing a plunge, the major e-commerce companies are facing a crisis. People are not mentally prepared to invest in anything other than basic amenities and medical necessities. We at Xboom Utilities are seeing the same as there is a huge demand for sanitary and hygiene products in comparison to our other safety products, it has become challenging to meet the massive demand.
Due to the growing pandemic, the demand for medical equipment like surgical sanitizers, masks, disinfectants, etc. have increased to such an extent that it is becoming a challenge to keep pace with the demand. Goods like groceries, vegetables, fruits, and sanitary items are being sold rapidly by the e-commerce sites and are in huge demand. The nationwide lockdown has created a cacophony in the society and people are groping on panic-shopping and hoarding of essential goods like groceries, sanitary products and even drinking water, which has already resulted in shops exhibiting empty shelves. The situation has also put a tremendous pressure and traffic on e-commerce, especially hyper local delivery applications and websites, which has resulted in the crashing of certain websites.
The best thing we can do to overcome the present situation is not to panic. With access to social media, news and rumors are spread with equal speed. It is best that you do not believe everything you hear and see. Take all the necessary precautions advised by WHO to safeguard yourselves and your family. Utilize this time to inculcate your hobbies and spend quality time with your family.