This chapter focuses on the extent of government intervention against COVID-19 and compares and evaluates support packages in different countries based on available statistical evidence. Economic interventions were described by collecting statistical data from government reports and international organizations. The statistical sample includes 46 countries with the highest number of patients as of May 20, 2021. Comparing the success rate of the health system (net ratio of the number of recovered to the number of patients with COVID-19) and the share of government support in countries affected by the COVID-19 virus shows a positive correlation coefficient of 0.26. The high recovery rate of COVID-19 patients in Iran has been achieved while the Iranian economy is under inhumane US sanctions. The experience of COVID-19 crisis management in Iran shows that the general mobilization of facilities and capabilities can turn any threat into an opportunity for the country's progress, growth, and excellence.
TopIntroduction
Covid-19 viruses form an extensive family of enveloped, positive-stranded RNA viruses. Micro components of Covid-19 viruses infect many mammals and birds and cause diseases of the upper respiratory tract, gastrointestinal tract, liver, and central nervous system (Gallagher & Buchmeier,2001). Covid-19 viruses infect the upper respiratory tract in humans and birds, while Covid-19 viruses in pigs and cattle cause intestinal infections that ultimately lead to severe economic losses (Perlman et al, 1999).
The first human Covid-19 viruses were isolated by different the United States and Great Britain techniques almost simultaneously. The British Research Council, Joint Cold Research Unit, has studied the secretions of people with natural respiratory infections using standard methods of cell culture isolation or by inoculating them into human volunteers (Reed, 1984).
It has been more than four and a half months since the official announcement of the Covid-19 virus outbreak in the Chinese city of Wahan. During this period, various hypotheses such as inadvertent or intentional leakage from the Wuhan Institute of Virology or natural genetic mutation of the virus have been proposed by researchers, politicians, and intelligence agencies on how this deadly virus works. However, these hypotheses and opinions are not certain and have not been proven.
On the other hand, statistical evidence from different countries shows that the risk and rate of spread of this virus, contrary to initial assumptions, is very high, and it has a higher rate of spread among large populations, and men are more vulnerable to the virus than women
Other countries that have officially reported Covid-19 outbreaks after China have attributed the outbreak, usually to the human-to-human transmission through air travel and border crossings. By the end of May 2021, according to Worldometers data, the number of patients has exceeded 170 million, and the number of deaths has exceeded 3.86M (Deb et al., 2021). Thus, the mortality rate of this disease in the world is close to 6.5 percent. Iran officially confirmed the occurrence of Covid-19 with the official confirmation of two cases in the city of Qom on February 20, 2020. Since then, according to the official statistics of the Ministry of Health, Treatment and Medical Education, the number of patients has reached 3.1M, the number of deaths is 82965, and the number of recovered people has reached 2.75M. Thus, the mortality rate of Covid-19 in Iran is slightly lower than the global average (~6%), and the recovery rate is approximately 78%. Given that Iran is subject to unfair and inhumane US sanctions in various economic, commercial, and medical dimensions, Iran’s achievements in managing and dealing with the Covid-19 crisis are remarkable and show the dedication of the medical staff and the mobilization of all facilities inside the country.
Different countries have implemented various short-term plans to deal with the Covid-19. These programs have affected various economic, social, and cultural dimensions. In this article, the extent of government intervention in the fight against Covid-19 is examined, and support packages in different countries are compared and evaluated according to statistical evidence.