58Received 15.06.2023. Revised 20.08.2023. Accepted 09.10.2023.
Abstract. In March 2020 the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus has reached the stage of a pandemic. With over 700 million cases of the disease and close to 7 million deaths recorded through May 2023 it turned out to have become the most disastrous pandemic after the Spanish flu of 1918–1919. It had a severe impact on all spheres of human life. In addition to having caused a huge stress of the public health care systems, it affected the functioning of the political and economic systems of all countries. This paper provides an analysis of economic and political consequences of the pandemic, gives an overview of its human toll, and discusses the unresolved issue of SARS-CoV-2 origin. The economic consequences of the pandemic, including reduction in Gross Domestic Product (GDP), trade and travel, growth in unemployment rate, etc. were quite significant. Political aspects included the ability of the countries’ leadership to provide a justified, solid and well-coordinated response to the threat as well as trust in the activities of a government on behalf of citizens. Not all politicians were able to meet the high standards of performance in the emergency situation. Unwillingness of western countries to acknowledge the efficacy of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine is an example of political and economic controversies between states. The probability of the occurrence of similar pandemics in the future is rather high. Utilizing the lessons learned from the COVID-19, scaling up the investments in the diseases surveillance and response systems, in hospital preparedness as well as in scientific research and vaccines development along with international cooperation, transparency and information sharing between countries on the above issues is crucial for facilitating the pandemic response in the future and avoiding the challenges encountered during the COVID-19 crisis of 2020–2023.
Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic, economic and political aspects, vaccines development, prevention of potential threats, biosecurity
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