COVID-19 Pandemic in Ethiopia: Literature Review

This global pandemic had caused many negative economic, political and educational impacts in Ethiopia. The pandemic has affected flower export after Europe was hit with the corona virus, the demand for flower has plummeted and the price dropped by more than 80% putting 150,000 employees at risk of losing their jobs. The country’s flag carrier Ethiopian Airlines is working at only 10% of its capacity reporting a loss of $550 million from January to April 2020. And more than 26 million students are affected by school closures due to corona virus. Politically the general election that was set to be held on 29 August 2020 won’t be held and any activities related to the election has been ceased according to a statement released by National Electoral Board of Ethiopia on 31 March. However, instead of implementing a national lockdown like most other governments, including in Africa, Ethiopia initiated other essential measures in January. The government then scaled up its response in mid-march, when the first case was reported in the country, and declared a state of emergency only in early April. Moreover, it has encouraged production and other economic activities to continue during the crisis, thus considerably easing the pressure on vulnerable social groups and the informal sector. The government has come up with different kind of policies, strategies and programs to be implemented to combat this global pandemic.