Not job crisis or corruption, COVID top concern among adults: Harsh Goenka

Not unemployment or job crisis, but the COVID-19 pandemic is what has taken a major toll on the mental health of people in the age group of 16-64 years over the past 12 months, industrialist Harsh Goenka said in a tweet.

Goenka shared a graph based on a survey by Ipsos Global Advisor in his tweet. The graph pegs coronavirus as the main concern among people between January 2021 and January 2022, followed by issues such poverty and social inequality, unemployment and jobs, financial/political corruption and crime and violence.

Top concerns over the past 12 months pic.twitter.com/4gri1W5Cge

— Harsh Goenka (@hvgoenka) February 19, 2022

The pandemic which led to the shutdown of several businesses in its first year of outbreak, triggered massive unemployment and pay cuts. The devastating second wave, which peaked in April-May 2021, saw more than 2.5 lakh deaths, raising concern among people about the safety of their loved ones.

The pandemic is currently is on its path of recession after a comparatively mild third wave. The World Health Organisation (WHO) in its weekly report published on Tuesday said that over 16 million new COVID infections and 75,000 deaths were reported across the world last week.

The global health agency also said that cases of COVID variants including alpha, beta and delta are showing a decline after the emergence of the Omicron variant.