The coronavirus recession, also known as the Great Lockdown or Great Shutdown, was a major global economic recession affecting the world economy in 2020 during and as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Background
The recession caused the largest economic downturn since the Great Depression. On 14 April 2020, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reported that all of the G7 nations had already entered or were entering into what was called a "deep recession". The IMF has stated that the economic decline is "far worse" than that of the Great Recession in 2009.
The numbers
The pandemic has led to more than a third of the world's population being placed on lockdown to stop the spread of COVID-19. This has caused severe economic downfalls for economies across the world, following soon after a global economic slowdown during 2019 that saw a lowering numbers in stock markets worldwide.
The United Nations (UN) predicted in April 2020 that global unemployment will wipe out 6.7 per cent of working hours globally in the second quarter of 2020—equivalent to 195 million full-time workers.
Other effects
The recession saw the fall of the price of oil caused by the 2020 Russia–Saudi Arabia oil price war, the collapse of the tourism industry, hospitality industry, energy industry, and a large decrease in consumer activity.
Global stock markets crashed around 20 to 30% during late February and March 2020. During the crash, global stock markets had many swings, mainly due to uncertainty in the markets.