An alarming headline has again circulated about the newest member of the COVID 19 family which is being referred to as the Nightmare Covid variant.
It is said to be the most immune-evasive variant that has already infected most of China. Each variant of the virus family seems stronger than the previous.
The fearful headlines that every news site, papers and channels are showing and viral Tweets are counterproductive of the situation. The stories and the headlines often confuse and mislead the public about the effects and the consequences of the new variant.
Amidst the economic turmoil and disruption faced during the hard times of COVID-19 outbreak by the Indian businesses and industrial sectors, it is seen that they could still operate after facing multiple challenges with respect to the business sustainability.
Right after the second wave, not everyone was privileged enough to have a job and work from home. For some sectors, employees needed to go to work which further increased the number of cases in the country.
Just when small, medium and big enterprises to some extent were gearing up to recover from two consecutive waves of COVID-19 infections and lockdowns, a new variant of the coronavirus family has come up to worry again, especially the industrial sectors.
The government of India has requested the states to keep a sharp note of the growing numbers of cases.
Further, they have urged people to get back to the restrictions and the laws of wearing masks and maintaining distance in crowded areas citing an increase in the disease. The rules that were stated when the last wave hit India, that are to be followed.
Besides affecting the health of people, COVID 19 has caused a major economic crisis across the globe.
Business owners and entrepreneurs hold the power of macroeconomic factors such as employment, economic growth rate and industrial production.Here are some of the ways in which the pandemic affected businesses during the first 2 waves,
Studies have suggested that the impact of the new COVID-19 variant could cause another crisis on business and call for an economic recession in the country. The industry that could be massively affected is the export and import businesses due to decline in external or internal demand.
With the resurgence of COVID-19 related restrictions in many places, if this variant turns out to be as strong as the previous one and India hits its third wave, economic activity will be slowed down temporarily. The overall turnover of a firm will also go down. But there is no such news about imposing complete or partial lockdown as of now.
If the new variant starts to affect India like it has affected the whole of China, then to continue running the operations of the business and coping with the scenario, the Indian businesses need to adopt strong workplace measures, such as:
China has recorded a massive surge in new Covid-19 variants. Expert’s take on it is that the rising rate of infection might not be an immediate threat to the Indian public and the businesses though they asserted the need to step up surveillance.
Unless there is a variant that has the potential of extremely high immune escape, backed with a higher level of toxicity, causing serious illness. The experts don't foresee an immediate spike in cases in India.
All the Covid ancestry has not led to a dramatic increase in cases. However, there is a need to be cautious and always follow the restrictions imposed by the government.
India has been reporting less than 200 cases per day on an average in a week. The number of active cases is lower than 3,500 in the entire country. Deaths have been in just single digits.
In the end, it all sums up to the new variant popping up. It may mean that we can see more virus transmission, infections and a new economic recession.
As the new variant has already infected more than half the population of China, people’s perception says it won't take much time for India to be infected with the new variant of Coronavirus as well.