| Pub. Date | : June, 2020 |
|---|---|
| Product Name | : The IUP Journal of Supply Chain Management |
| Product Type | : Article |
| Product Code | : IJSCM020321 |
| Author Name | : Gilles Pache |
| Availability | : YES |
| Subject/Domain | : Strategic |
| Download Format | : PDF Format |
| No. of Pages | : 8 |
Most countries in the world have been strongly affected since March 2020 by the Covid-19 pandemic. In order to face the health crisis and reduce the spread of the virus, they have chosen a lockdown strategy, which is progressively ending in Spring 2020. The lockdown exit is likely to lead to supply chain disruptions with a potential increase in demand. From this point of view, a gradual lockdown exit is necessary to avoid a 'logistical counter-shock' with negative impacts, as explained in this study.
The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the lack of preparedness and resilience of most European countries to manage a health crisis of this magnitude (Jacobsen, 2020). It also underlined the selfishness of governments when health systems were overwhelmed by the exponential growth in the number of patients in acute respiratory distress. As a result, each country had to rely on its own forces to prevent an explosion in mortality, especially among the elderly. By mid-March 2020, it became evident that the absolute urgency was to limit the entry of new patients into hospitals thanks to the decrease of social contacts by physical distancing. Most European countries, notably Italy, Spain, France, United Kingdom and Belgium, have chosen the lockdown solution, more or less based on the Chinese model ('quarantine').