• Login
NORVANREPORTS.COM |  Business News, Insurance, Taxation, Oil & Gas, Maritime News, Ghana, Africa, World
  • Home
  • News
    • General
    • Political
  • Economy
  • Business
    • Agribusiness
    • Aviation
    • Banking & Finance
    • Energy
    • Insurance
    • Manufacturing
    • Markets
    • Maritime
    • Real Estate
    • Tourism
    • Transport
  • Technology
    • Telecom
    • Cyber-security
    • Cryptocurrency
    • Tech-guide
    • Social Media
  • Features
    • Interviews
    • Opinions
  • Reports
    • Banking/Finance
    • Insurance
    • Budgets
    • GDP
    • Inflation
    • Central Bank
    • Sec/Gse
  • Lifestyle
    • Sports
    • Entertainment
    • Travel
    • Environment
    • Weather
  • NRTV
    • Audio
    • Video
No Result
View All Result
No Result
View All Result
NORVANREPORTS.COM |  Business News, Insurance, Taxation, Oil & Gas, Maritime News, Ghana, Africa, World
No Result
View All Result
Home Features

Covid-19 hits the poor harder, but scaled up testing can help

5 years ago
in Features, Opinions
3 min read
0 0
0
53
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Linkedin

Across the world, poor neighborhoods have experienced more COVID-19 infections and deaths than wealthier ones. The pandemic and the efforts to control it have disproportionately hurt the poor, both within and across countries.

Gaining a better understanding of what accounts for the disparate health impacts across income groups can help to inform policymakers on what can be done about it.

In recent IMF staff research, we build a more precise connection between wealth and health related to the pandemic. The model-based analysis shows that more widespread and rapid testing can provide vital information to better contain the spread of the virus, benefitting everyone, but especially the poor.

Our research goes beyond most epidemiological models by looking at individual behavior and choices based on income, instead of focusing solely on age, gender, and other demographics.

Vaccines are likely to roll out gradually over the next months and years, but in the meantime rates of infection continue to rise in some countries at a faster rate than in the pandemic’s early days. Lockdowns, physical distancing, and mask wearing have been the most used tools to contain the pandemic. However, cheap and fast testing can be another arrow in the quiver.

Income matters

The behavior and choices that put poorer individuals on the front lines of infection during a pandemic are often the product of necessity. First, many low-wage workers are employed in services deemed essential during the pandemic (such as grocery stores and delivery services) or jobs with limited remote work options.

RelatedPosts

GRTCC Suspends 20% Transport Fare Hike Following Talks with Transport Ministry

BoG Postpones National Launch of Cedi@60 Anniversary Following Helicopter Tragedy

Japanese Automakers Toyota and Honda Take a Big Hit From Trump’s Tariffs

Second, poorer neighborhoods are likely to have denser populations, which is more conducive to contagion. Third, people in poorer communities also tend to have very little in emergency savings, limiting their ability to reduce work hours to reduce their infection risks (for example, self-employed informal workers). 

Wealthier individuals can lower their infection risk because they have the option of working less and limiting time spent outside their homes. The effect of these choices is dramatic. The model simulations indicate that while a little more than 10 percent of rich households ever get infected by the virus, over half of poor households would become infected over a two-year period.

This is also reflected in the incidence of deaths, where the model suggests poor households are about four times more likely to die.These numbers suggest that the poor households bear the brunt of the pandemic’s health costs.

Testing matters

Two important policy measures can help alleviate the epidemic’s large impact on the poor until effective vaccines and therapeutics are widely available and provided to all that need them.

First, targeted income support to poorer households will directly help buffer their consumption against the large, adverse economic shock. Second, improving information on the pandemic’s spread and containment with widespread testing enhances the ability to identify and isolate new cases, reducing infection risks.

The latest rapid tests are cheap—the World Health Organization recently negotiated $5 per test, and with scaled-up demand and production, prices could drop to $1 or less. Their simplicity means any household or business could use them (no medical equipment or labs needed to evaluate), without any centralized processing or recording.

While a mass-testing strategy might not prevent all outbreaks, overall it could reduce the pandemic’s spread and bring it under control, especially when combined with mask wearing, hand washing and physical distancing.

The use of testing to identify and isolate positive cases is even more effective in controlling the epidemic in countries with a higher share of poorer households. Our research shows that if half of asymptomatic infectious people were identified, deaths would be reduced by almost three-fourths within a year.

Poor people benefit the most, with their COVID-19 fatality rate dropping by about three-fourths with improved massive testing, compared to a fall of about a half for the more well off.

chart 1

Unlike lockdowns, better information through widespread testing unequivocally boosts the economy by lowering the risk of infection while interacting with other people. When no asymptomatic infectious people are tested and the virus spreads undetected, the drop in GDP is a staggering 15 percent in the first year for the representative economy.

When the risks of infections are higher, people choose to withdraw and reduce economic activity as they are able. The loss shrinks to just 3.3 percent of GDP if 50 percent of the asymptomatic infectious are identified through testing and isolate to reduce contagion. This is achievable with a test with an 80 percent true positive rate (sensitivity) if about 60 percent of the whole population could be tested weekly.

Chart 2

With the potential to avoid large GDP losses and the comparatively low and declining costs of rapid tests, the returns from widespread testing combined with mask wearing are enormous. This approach could also reduce some of the inequities made worse by the pandemic, helping poor and more vulnerable households better weather the crisis.

Source: IMF
Via: norvanreports
No Result
View All Result

Highlights

Multichoice Ghana Faces Licence Suspension Over Refusal to Cut DStv Prices as Deadline Expires Today

Oil Prices Rise After Trump Targets India’s Imports

Foreign Capital Inflows Into Banking Sector Hit Five-Year High in 2024

Electricity is Getting Cheaper Across Africa

Summary of Events Following Confirmation of Deaths of Defence and Environment Ministers, Six Others in Military Helicopter Crash

FDI Rises to 3-Year High as Reforms Boost Investor Confidence

Trending

Business

GRTCC Suspends 20% Transport Fare Hike Following Talks with Transport Ministry

August 7, 2025

GRTCC Suspends 20% Transport Fare Hike Following Talks with Transport Ministry The Ghana Road Transport Coordinating Council...

Bank of Ghana

BoG Postpones National Launch of Cedi@60 Anniversary Following Helicopter Tragedy

August 7, 2025

Japanese Automakers Toyota and Honda Take a Big Hit From Trump’s Tariffs

August 7, 2025

Multichoice Ghana Faces Licence Suspension Over Refusal to Cut DStv Prices as Deadline Expires Today

August 7, 2025

Oil Prices Rise After Trump Targets India’s Imports

August 7, 2025

Who we are?

NORVANREPORTS.COM |  Business News, Insurance, Taxation, Oil & Gas, Maritime News, Ghana, Africa, World

NorvanReports is a unique data, business, and financial portal aimed at providing accurate, impartial reporting of business news on Ghana, Africa, and around the world from a truly independent reporting and analysis point of view.

© 2020 Norvanreports – credible news platform.
L: Hse #4 3rd Okle Link, Baatsonaa – Accra-Ghana T:+233-(0)26 451 1013 E: news@norvanreports.com info@norvanreports.com
All rights reserved we display professionalism at all stages of publications

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
    • Agribusiness
    • Aviation
    • Energy
    • Insurance
    • Manufacturing
    • Real Estate
    • Maritime
    • Tourism
    • Transport
    • Banking & Finance
    • Trade
    • Markets
  • Economy
  • Reports
  • Technology
    • Cryptocurrency
    • Cyber-security
    • Social Media
    • Tech-guide
    • Telecom
  • Features
    • Interviews
    • Opinions
  • Lifestyle
    • Entertainment
    • Sports
    • Travel
    • Environment
    • Weather
  • NRTV
    • Audio
    • Video

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Create New Account!

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
NORVANREPORTS.COM | Business News, Insurance, Taxation, Oil & Gas, Maritime News, Ghana, Africa, World
This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.