Covid-19 changed the lives of millions of people around the world. The effects of the global pandemic on the physical and psychological health of individuals, as well as on their behavioral habits, relationships, and the way they communicate, do not seem to be only short- or medium-term, but, on the contrary, appear to be long-lasting. In the same way that it is possible to use the term “long-covid” to refer to the long-term effects on the physical health of individuals who have contracted the virus, so we think it is possible to use the expression 'psychological long-covid' to indicate the long-term effects on the psychological health of individuals, not only of those who have been infected, but more generally of all those who have had to cope with social restrictions, lockdowns, distancing, remote work and learning, etc. imposed by the pandemic. At the same time, many people demonstrated resilience, as the capacity to cope with adverse events through positive adaptation.

Geographic Information System (GIS) is one of the most important tools to help us understand public health and many aspects of our lives. Because of COVID-19, GIS has been brought into the spotlight more than ever before. People and civic leaders worldwide are turning to maps and real-time surveillance data to make sense of what has been happening in the world and to get answers to important questions on every aspect of this pandemic. This book examines the role of GIS in managing and controlling the spread of COVID-19 through 12 global projects and a multidisciplinary approach. It explains the innovative uses of GIS not only limited to data organization and data access, but also how improved GIS tools are used to make decisions, plan, and communicate various measures of control in both local and full-scale outbreaks during the COVID-19 pandemic. Features: Provides cutting-edge GIS visualization, spatial temporal pattern, and hot spot tracking applications used for predictive modeling of COVID-19. Includes real-world case studies with broad geographic scope that reflect COVID-19 trends in cases, deaths, and vaccinations. Provides lifestyle segmentation analysis on the risk of transmission of COVID-19 and spatial patterns of vaccination hesitancy. Highlights real-world issues brought to light with the help of GIS, such as social discrimination, inequalities in women’s access to mental health care, and analyzes the risk of transmission due to vaccination hesitancy. Shows the use of GIS and spatial analysis in pandemic mapping, management, and control from masking and social distancing to testing site locations accounting for at-risk and vulnerable populations. Discusses facilitating policy making with GIS. Edited by a very talented medical geographer and GIS Professor Dr. Esra Ozdenerol, this book highlights key GIS capabilities and lessons learned during the COVID-19 response that can help communities prepare for the next crisis. It is a great resource for industry professionals and experts in health care, public health and safety, disaster management, and for students, academics, and researchers interested in applying GIS and spatial analysis to the study of COVID-19 and other pandemics.

This open access book provides a comprehensive analysis of the socioeconomic determinants of Covid-19. From the end of 2019 until presently, the world has been ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic. Although the cause of this is (obviously) a virus, the extent to which this virus spread, and therefore the number of infections and deaths, was largely determined by socio-economic factors. From this, it follows that the course of the pandemic varies greatly from one country to another. This observation applies both to countries’ resilience to such a pandemic (which is mainly rooted in the period preceding the outbreak of the virus) and to the way in which countries have reacted to the virus (including the political choices on how to respond). Meanwhile, research has made it clear that the nature of this response (e.g., elimination policy, mitigation policy, and proceeding herd immunity) was, on the one hand, strongly determined by political and ideological factors and, on the other hand, was highly influential in the factors of success or failure in combating the pandemic. The book focuses on the situation in a number of Western regions (notably the USA, the UK, and the EU and its Member States). The author addresses the reasons why in many Western countries both pandemic prevention and response policies to Covid-19 have failed. The book concludes with recommendations concerning the rearrangement of the socio-economic order that could increase the resilience of (Western) societies against such pandemics.

This book explores the effect of the pandemic on human rights; civil and political rights (CPR); economic, social, and cultural rights (ESCR); and freedoms around the world. The COVID-19 pandemic radically changed many aspects of the lives of individuals and entire societies. This crisis and the unprecedented experience required extraordinary solutions, regulations, and rapid responses from decision-makers to limit the spread of the disease and protect societies. To this end, during this period, many countries chose to impose states of emergency, resulting in the granting of extraordinary powers to the executive. This has sometimes been a very convenient pretext for introducing various types of restrictions, oppressive surveillance, and other legal arrangements that can be qualified as human rights violations. The authors make a scholarly summary of this period, identifying possible rights violations — but above all — recommendations for the future. This crisis has shown how important it is to have universal, equitable health and social protection systems that cover all community members equally and without discrimination, and the authors remodel the concept of "human rights" and "human needs". The book covers varied examples from lockdowns to vaccination to information control, across Spain, Poland, South Africa and Uganda, the Czech Republic, Belarus and Ukraine, and Russia. This book will appeal to higher-level students and scholars of law, political science, and international relations and will also be helpful for public policymakers at national and international levels.

This collection of essays provides a rich and contemporary discussion of the principle of pacta sunt servanda. This principle, which requires that valid agreements are to be honoured, is a cornerstone of contract law. Focusing on contributions from Asia, this book shows that, despite its natural and universal appeal, the pacta sunt servanda principle is neither absolute nor immutable. Exceptions to the binding force of contract must be available in limited circumstances to avoid hardship and unfairness. This book offers readers new comparative perspectives on the appropriate balance between contractual certainty and flexibility in an era of social instability. Expert authors, mostly from East and Southeast Asia, explore when their domestic legal systems allow exceptions from the binding force of contracts. Doctrines discussed include impossibility, frustration, change of circumstance, force majeure, illegality as well as rights of withdrawal. Other chapters consider the importance of the pacta principle in international law. The challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic feature strongly in the majority of contributions.

IMPACTS OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC Enables Readers to Understand the Impact of International Legislative and Policy Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic The wide array of legal and policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have significant implications regarding the functioning of countries and their respective societies. This book addresses the impact of international legislative and policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in a range of countries. To aid the reader in understanding country-specific developments, each chapter focuses on a specific country and addresses the legal frameworks and policy approaches used to support measures to prevent transmission and otherwise reduce the impact of the virus on society and the economy. Sample topics discussed in the work include: The effect certain policies may have on civil liberties, such as due process, and the right to privacy in specific countries The provision of public goods in the face of the pandemic Policymakers in public health agencies and other branches of government, along with academics studying global pandemic response, homeland security, and emergency management will be able to use this book as a comprehensive resource to understand the current state of COVID-19 policies around the world and the potential future effects of these policies.

The Slovak Republic faced the pandemic from a position of strength with fiscal space and comfortable banking sector buffers. Effective policy support, through measures aimed at preserving jobs, providing liquidity support, and ensuring credit supply, have limited the economic fallout. Output is expected to reach pre-crisis level before the end of 2021, but uncertainty is high.