Comments on: The coronavirus crisis: how did we get here, and what should we do next? https://www.policyforum.net/the-coronavirus-crisis-how-did-we-get-here-and-what-should-we-do-next/ The APPS Policy Forum a public policy website devoted to Asia and the Pacific. Wed, 03 Jun 2020 22:13:37 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.1.7 By: Chowdhury Dilruba Shoma https://www.policyforum.net/the-coronavirus-crisis-how-did-we-get-here-and-what-should-we-do-next/#comment-12561 Wed, 03 Jun 2020 22:13:37 +0000 https://www.policyforum.net/?p=41667#comment-12561 Thanks a lot to both, Professor Quentin Grafton and Professor Tom Kompas. I appreciate your concluding remarks “For most of the poor in poorer countries, unless the rich world helps, they will be left with the worst outcome of all, the scythe” ‒ no doubt very insightful. In a recent study by Professor Warwick McKibbin† and Roshen Fernando also emphasized on vastly needed more investment in public health and development in the richest together with the poorest countries to tackle the outbreak of COVID-19 .[The global macroeconomic impacts of COVID-19: Seven …www.brookings.edu › research › the-global-macroecon…].

The new death toll of COVID 19 now is South Asia particularly, India, Pakistan and my home Bangladesh, on one hand;
[https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/bangladesh/]
[https://tbsnews.net/coronavirus-chronicle/covid-19-bangladesh/bangladesh-lowest-covid-19-testing-south-asia-86248] [https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2020/04/30/coronavirus-bangladesh-worst-hit-country-in-south-asia].

On the other hand, If do not open our economy we have to face another uninvited guest ‒starvation, already corona virus negatively impacts on two of our most vital economic sectors; Ready made garments [https://www.orfonline.org/research/bangladesh-covid19-badly-impacts-garments-industry-65275/] [https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/views/views/your-order-has-been-cancelled-the-coronavirus-impact-on-the-rmg-sector-1584974682]
and Remittances [https://www.bb.org.bd/econdata/wagermidtl.php]
[https://en.prothomalo.com/opinion/op-ed/covid-19-and-the-impact-on-overseas-employment] [https://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/news/bangladeshi-migrants-ksa-10-lakh-face-deportation-1899244]

In South Asia including Bangladesh where nearly half of the world’s poorest people live, who are struggling from hand to mouth, how they can cope with the corona virus pandemic ?

So, we must need “Global cooperation, especially in the sphere of public health and economic development…” [McKibbin† and Fernando].

Regards
Shoma

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