CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The COVID pandemic fundamentally differs from previous episodes in two notable ways: (1) the transmission of diseases has been much quicker than in past episodes, causing large-scale containment policies that are implemented almost synchronized globally, and (2) abrupt disruption of value chains that leads to a sudden global economic end. Concerning the number of new passage arrivals and the openness to and dependency on commerce and foreign investment, and not least the pacing and rigourousness of government preventive action, the COVID-19 pandemic has various effects for communities and economies, including in Africa. In Mauritius and other countries the international economics team has thoroughly analyzed and studied COVID-19’s effect on trade, logistics and tourism. Different methods were used to assess the effect on the economies of the planet of the coronavirus. For eg, UNCTAD (2020) indicated that the EU (USD 15.6 billion), the United States (USD 5.8 billion) and Japan (USD 5.2 billion) were three of the most affected economies with an impact on trade flows.