COVID-19 pandemic
Economics

The pandemic and responses to it damaged the global economy. On 27 February 2020, worries about the outbreak crushed US stock indexes, which posted their sharpest falls since 2008.

Tourism collapsed due to travel restrictions, closing of public places including travel attractions, and advice of governments against travel. Airlines cancelled flights, while British regional airline Flybe collapsed. The cruise line industry was hard hit, and train stations and ferry ports closed. International mail stopped or was delayed.

The retail sector faced reductions in store hours or closures. Retailers in Europe and Latin America faced traffic declines of 40 percent. North America and Middle East retailers saw a 50–60 percent drop. Shopping centres faced a 33–43 percent drop in foot traffic in March compared to February. Mall operators around the world coped by increasing sanitation, installing thermal scanners to check the temperature of shoppers, and cancelling events.

Hundreds of millions of jobs were lost, including more than 40 million jobs in the US. According to a report by Yelp, about 60% of US businesses that closed will stay shut permanently. The International Labour Organization (ILO) reported that the income generated in the first nine months of 2020 from work across the world dropped by 10.7 percent, or $3.5 trillion.
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