Government, as well as the industry, come together to fight the Coronavirus outbreak in UK

Coronavirus is having a significant impact on both healthcare as well as the economy all across the globe. In the United Kingdom, the spread of the virus has profoundly impacted the economy, and with it, the fortunes of different industries. Manufacturing and retail activities in the country have come to a halt primarily due to the fear in people regarding the further spread of the epidemic, which has been causing extreme economic and financial distress in these sectors, with some of the major corporations in these segments closing down or going under administration. While, within all this time, the number of cases of Covid-19, due to community spreading has increased manifold in the last few weeks. As of the time of writing, the number of confirmed cases in the United Kingdom have been reported to be at 3,269 while the number of deaths has been reported at 144. 79 people have said to have completely recovered from the disease. For the entire European continent, the number of cases has been reported at 108,068, with 4,941 people reported to have died because of the disease and the recovery rate from the disease stands at approximately 2 per cent while the situation as revealed by these numbers is continuously evolving.

The United Kingdom’s stock markets have been generally on a downtrend over the past couple of weeks. The FTSE 100 Index of the London Stock Exchange was up by 1.46 per cent as compared to the previous day, while the FTSE 250 Index was up by 6.23 per cent as opposed to the previous day, at the time of writing.

In the midst of all this chaos, Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, on 17^th March 2020 announced a £350 billion rescue package for the companies of United Kingdom, so that they could continue to survive and sustain in the middle of such testing times. This has been reported to be one of the most significant bailout packages announced by the British administration in its entire history.

As a part of the huge £330 billion scheme that guarantees loans to businesses, both small and large, the Banks of England, for up to a year’s time will buy short-term debt issued by larger firms, especially from the ones that make a material contribution to the economy, by taking steps such as helping them make payments towards expenses incurred in wages as well as payments to suppliers as it is expected that the mayhem that has been caused by the virus would continue in the months to come. At the time, when the Chancellor made this statement, this package was appreciably received by corporate lobbyists, but they also reiterated that there would be additional requirements from the government such as allowing additional tax cuts as well as further support, which will be extremely critical, especially in the times of such an unprecedented economic and health crisis that is affecting everyone and not just a part of a few sections of the society.

Eventually, it has become clear that this multi-billion pound package is not a one-sided support mechanism and the administration would demand certain things and some kind of support from corporates in trying to contain the spread of the virus as well as protecting its citizens, the businesses and the economy as a whole.

At the forefront in the fight against the coronavirus outbreak, in terms of the business community, is the healthcare, pharmaceuticals and the biotechnology sector. National Health Service of the United Kingdom has already been in contact with healthcare service providers and the hospitals for the purpose of trying to increase the number of tests being conducted and also to provide care to anyone having symptoms, or the ones who are being tested positive, the cost of which would is to be borne by the government. The government has also increased the funding for research departments of pharmaceutical companies, to primarily find a cure or treatment or vaccination against Covid-19. The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) is providing all its support, in terms of finances and research towards the programmes that have been launched by companies like Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc as well as Moderna, Inc to develop a vaccination. Global pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline Plc has also started its R&D Programmes to develop a treatment process and a vaccination that could potentially treat the patients, especially the ones that have serious respiratory issues. The company is currently looking to develop, either the vaccination or the technology that could help in the testing for Covid-19. The company also made a statement regarding the fact that the scientists that they have employed are trying to identify other avenues in terms of medical sciences to offer its support to not just the UK Government, but also other countries, if possible, at this time of the global pandemic.

Other companies have also increased their efforts, such as paying their employees for their time off, and encouraging self-isolation, so that the number of infections does not increase during this period. Companies from the manufacturing sector have closed down their factories, and some of them are compensating the labourers for their daily wages lost. Delivery services and subscription-based services have increased their operations so that the citizens do not have to move out of their houses, and the threat of spreading of the virus doesn't increase.

Other ways in which the UK Government is helping the companies to deal with the economic downturn

In this period, sickness of staff is expected to rise, while the number of consumers of these companies is expected to fall, which could potentially lead to a cash crunch for these companies. Hence, Rishi Sunak, in his announcement of the bailout package, suggested a few measures that could help these companies in preserving cash, especially during the crisis period so that they continue to operate efficiently. The following is the list of some of those measures suggested by the Chancellor of the Exchequer:

1. The Chancellor indicated that the small and medium-term enterprises who cannot afford to pay their tax bills immediately could request Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs Department a specific "time to pay", which could be negotiated on a case to case basis.
2. The government also announced that it would not charge property taxes as well as other business rates on properties which have been rented or leased out to companies; This could give some expense-centred relief to such companies.
3. The government also is expected to give grants to approximately 700,000 smallest businesses in the country of around £3000 as a one-off grant, to meet their day to day business expenses.
4. The most significant measure of relief that has been suggested is the granting of risky loans. It has been reported that the government might underwrite loans to businesses whose operations, primarily supply chains, have been negatively impacted by this crisis. Other private banks of the country have already been granting loans to similar companies, as has been reported previously.
5. The government also announced that if an employee is on sick leave, the pay that would be received by that employee from the company can then later be reclaimed by those companies from the government, which could turn out to be a huge help for such companies and at the same time could help them with preserving cash for operations.