This unique and topical book assesses the impact of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on a multitude of different aspects of human life. With chapters from researchers from a diverse selection of countries, this new volume, Exploring the Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Social, Cultural, Economic, and Psychological Insights and Perspectives, provides an insightful understanding of the challenges and impacts of COVID-19 on mental health, health care, gender issues, education, social institutions, and more. The diverse studies in this volume look at community responses and social challenges during COVID-19, covering topics such as social protection challenges and measures, the responsibility of the state to its citizens, and human rights and inhuman wrongs. The volume also examines health challenges and consequences of COVID-19, such as the impact on maternal and reproductive health, on mental health, the psychological effects of isolation, and more. The volume also includes studies on gender issues such as the plight of women migrant workers during the pandemic, feminist activism during quarantine, the impact on vulnerable groups of society, and how the pandemic affected interpersonal relations and behavior. The volume also takes a look at the roles of different organizations and professions and their reactions to the health crisis, including police, journalists and the media, and educators. The issues of the closure of schools and colleges and remote learning are also addressed. There is even a mathematical study of optimum budget allocation for social projects to control the COVID-19 pandemic. The enlightening volume provides an in-depth understanding of sociocultural responses to the COVID-19 and its consequences on society and will be of value to many sectors of society, including government and nongovernment organizations, policymakers and policy analysts, medical research organizations, schools and universities, healthcare practitioners, sociologists, and many others.

This timely interdisciplinary book brings together a wide spectrum of theoretical concepts and their empirical applications in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic, informing our understanding of the social and psychological bases of a global crisis. Written by an author team of psychologists and sociologists, the volume provides comprehensive coverage of phenomena such as fear, risk, judgement and decision making, threat and uncertainty, group identity and cohesion, social and institutional trust, and communication in the context of an international health emergency.The topics have been grouped into four main chapters, focusing on the individual, group, social, and communication perspectives of the issues affecting or being affected by the pandemic, based on over 740 classic and current references of peer-reviewed research and contextualized with an epidemiological perspective discussed in the introduction. The volume finishes with two special sections, with a chapter on cultural specificity of the social impact of pandemics, focusing specifically on both Islam and Hinduism, and a chapter on the cross-national differences in policy responses to the current health crisis. Providing not just a reference for academic research, but also short-term and long-term policy solutions based on successful strategies to combat adverse social, cognitive, and emotional consequences, this is the ideal resource for academics and policymakers interested in social and psychological determinants of individual reactions to pandemics, as well as in fields such as economics, management, politics, and medical care.

At the end of 2019, the world came across a virus, SARS-CoV-2, which causes a disease classified as COVID-19. The virus is highly transmissible and causes an acute respiratory syndrome that ranges from mild symptoms in about 80% cases to very severe symptoms with respiratory failure in 5% to 10% of cases. The epicenter of the outbreak of this pandemic was Wuhan, a city in China’s Hubei Province. The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak of COVID-19 to be a pandemic and classified it as a high global risk. Human health risk assessment for COVID-19 depends on the characteristics of the virus and includes the process of gathering and analyzing environmental and health information using specific techniques to support decision making, systematically taking actions, and articulating the collected information within and between sectors for promoting health and improving the social and living conditions of populations. To assess COVID-19 risk factors, it is important to consider and document all relevant information available at the time of assessment. In this way, decision making will get a direction and the assessment process will get recorded, which includes evaluation of the risk factors, control measures, methods used for evaluation, why they were considered important, and their order of priority. This book addresses in detail the challenges posed by the virus and presents up-to-date knowledge on safety risk assessment and economics, as well as ethical, legal, and social implications (ELSI) of COVID-19.

The contributions in this book demonstrate that the Covid-19 pandemic has led to negative socioeconomic impacts, put a tremendous strain on social institutions in many countries, and changed the lives of people around the world. Society, economy, business companies, management structures of companies, consumption habits of society, education, and health sector have been significantly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Some of these effects are thought to be permanent even after the pandemic subsides. It is obvious that the process of digitization will continue in making a consumer’s life more comfortable and safer. Some researchers estimate that approximately 60 percent of companies plan to let their employees continue working remotely from home offices in the post-pandemic period. Many experts emphasize that online shopping, which increased rapidly during the pandemic period, will continue to dominate after the pandemic. Therefore, the social effects of the Covid-19 pandemic will be the subject of many academic studies today and in the future.

We are told that 'work is good for us' and that ill health is caused by 'individual lifestyles'. Drawing on research from public health, social policy, epidemiology, geography and political science, this evidence-based inter-disciplinary book firmly challenges these contemporary orthodoxies. It systematically demonstrates that work - or lack of it - is central to our health and wellbeing and is the underlying determinant of health inequalities. Work is the cornerstone of modern society and dominates adult life with around a third of our time spent working. It is a vital part of self-identity and for most of us it is the foundation of economic and social status. As such, the material and psychosocial conditions in which we work have immense consequences for our physical and mental wellbeing, as well as the distribution of health across the population. Recessions, job-loss, insecurity and unemployment also have important ramifications for the health and wellbeing of individuals, families and communities. Chronic illness is itself a significant cause of worklessness and low pay. Drawing on examples from different countries, this book shows that the relationship between work, worklessness and health varies by country. Countries with a more regulated work environment and a more interventionist and supportive welfare system have better health and smaller work-related health inequalities. The book provides examples of specific policies and interventions that mitigate the ill-health effects of work and worklessness. It concludes by asserting the importance of politics and policy choices in the aetiology of health and health inequalities.