The coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic and the fallout from measures to control it have created the biggest global social and economic shock since the end of the Second World War. The virus has infected millions and killed hundreds of thousands of people. Its spread is accelerating. The health systems of the richest countries have been put under intense pressure and their economies face the deepest recession since the 1930s. Massive government intervention by the UK and other industrialised economies has staved off the worst impacts on people’s jobs and incomes, but the social impact has already been profound and has yet to fully unfold.

Christian Aid (2020). Building Back with Justice Report.