Answer:

Abstract

In only a few weeks, COVID-19 has profoundly changed our lives, causing tremendous human suffering and challenging the most basic foundations of societal well-being. Beyond the immediate impacts on health, jobs and incomes, the epidemic is increasing people’s anxiety and worry, affecting their social relations, their trust in other people and in institutions, their personal security and sense of belonging.

The short and medium-term impacts of COVID-19 will be particularly severe for the most disadvantaged and risk compounding existing socio-economic divides. This policy brief looks at the broad range of effects that COVID-19 will have on different aspects of people’s lives, with a focus on specific population groups such as children, women and the elderly. It calls for rapid and decisive action by governments in order to support the most vulnerable people highlighting the importance of a broad and coordinated policy response that includes strengthened social protection, education, health care, housing support and specific interventions to enhance personal security of women and children, as well as actions supporting vulnerable workers, small businesses, communities and regions left behind.

Context

With close to 900 000 cases1 confirmed worldwide and the scale of contagion still rising in most affected countries, COVID-19 is causing tremendous human suffering with serious and long-term implications for people’s health, well-being and quality of life. Beyond the very obvious risks to physical health and to the economy, the epidemic is also affecting people’s social connectedness, their trust in people and institutions, their jobs and incomes, as well as imposing a huge toll in terms of anxiety and worry. COVID-19 is hitting at a time where inequality and social pressures in OECD countries are high; and many people and communities continue to be left behind despite the improvement of average living conditions in the past ten years or so.

While governments need to act swiftly and decisively to contain the spread of the virus, countries also need to assess the impacts of the disease and the counter-measures on all aspects of people’s lives, especially those most vulnerable, and integrate these distributional impacts in the response. While racing against the clock in a complex and uncertain environment, countries’ response to the COVID-19 crisis also needs to address the well-being perspective in a holistic and integrated manner, as opposed to a sectorial approach. Failing to do so risks deepening inequalities, possibly creating new divides and undermining the resilience of societies.

This policy brief looks at how the evolving COVID-19 crisis is affecting vulnerable people and communities, and specific population groups (children, women and the elderly) and places, across a broad range of dimensions. As other OECD policy briefs have addressed the effects on well-being dimensions such as health (OECD, 2020[1]; OECD, 2020[2]), employment (OECD, 2020[3]) and knowledge and skills (OECD, 2020[4]), as well as for selected population groups such as women (OECD, 2020[5]), the present note focuses on less explored dimensions, notably social connections, subjective well-being and mental health, personal security, financial vulnerability, stress and others. The policy brief also looks at policy responses for coordinated governance, protecting people and places left behind, and supporting small businesses and vulnerable workers; as well as identifying data gaps for an informed and evidence-based policy response in an evolving crisis.2

Explanation:

Answer:

the answer is A

Explanation:

The cause is "Varies strategies were adopted"

The effect is "to control the spread of the virus"