The first case of COVID-19 in the United States was recorded on January 21, 2020; by May 1 over 1,000,000 cases had been reported. To slow the spread of the virus, states across the country issued stay-at-home and shelter-in-place orders, instituted social distancing measures, and closed non-essential businesses. President Trump declared a national emergency on...
On March 12, the COVID-19 quarantine was declared in Ukraine. At that time, the government did not yet understand how it would proceed, what policies it would enact, and how long it would last. There was only one goal- to slow down the spread of COVID-19. At this stage, the number of affected people changes...
Due to the UK lockdown that began on March 23rd, businesses, schools, and all non-essential workplaces have been closed down and people began working from home. Where working from home is not possible, many companies have opted to furlough their employees, meaning employees are temporarily laid off and instead receive 80% of their income from...
Turkey’s current or planned health and economic recovery policies for addressing COVID-19 are not taking into account issues related to climate change mitigation and/or adaptation. However, there is a very important climate-related issue that Turkey should consider as part of its COVID-19 economic recovery program: the return to self-sustaining agricultural production. Doing so would completely...
At present, Thailand is facing major economic and environment-related challenges with respect to the COVID-19 pandemic, including severe droughts, and widespread forest fires. The COVID-19 pandemic droughts and forest fires have been described as “Thailand’s triple disaster.” In this regard, it has been mentioned: “The combination of the global coronavirus pandemic, droughts, and choking fires...
*Note: Article written April 18, 2020; as this is an evolving situation, data and situations may have changed by the publication of this article. Spain has been one of the countries hardest hit by the COVID–19 pandemic worldwide. As of mid-April, Spain had contributed nearly 200,000 cases of the 2 million across the globe, accounting...
The South Korean government provides COVID-19 emergency disaster relief funds to all of its citizens. It is an unprecedented amount of money that any Korean citizen can receive. The amount of funding depends on the number of household members; a household of one person can get roughly 330 U.S. dollars a month, a family of...
South Africa is particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 given its levels of poverty, unemployment, inequality, and vulnerable employment, as well as the prevalence of HIV and tuberculosis. An R500 billion economic and social support package was announced by the President as the government’s response to stimulate economic recovery hindered by the COVID-19 pandemic. The bulk of...
The Saudi Arabia government announced on March 20th a $32 billion economic stimulus package to help the economy badly hit by the coronavirus pandemic crisis and low oil prices. Most of the stimulus funds will bail out conventional energy systems and assist large businesses ($18.7 billion) as well as small and medium-sized businesses ($13.3 billion)...
By the end of March 2020, there were no readily available statistics on Russia’s emissions, though there were some estimates provided by the Moscow city administration. Due to many workers working remotely from home, there was an 11% decrease in private vehicles on the roads of the Russian capital during morning rush hour. However, in...
