The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing COVID-19 pandemic caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus II. It was first identified in December 2019 in China. More than a quarter of the world's population currently has movement restrictions. While public health concerns should undoubtedly take precedence over all other considerations in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, it would be unwise to ignore the economic costs of the current situation.Reviving an economy in which production comes to a standstill in a hitherto unprecedented way is no easy task, and if not done properly it will lead to further damage. Small economies such as Sri Lanka, whose economic backbone is made up of macro and micro-economy, which relies on export revenues to generate foreign exchange, while managing a critical debt and fiscal crisis, will be particularly vulnerable.Throughout history, disease outbreaks have ravaged humanity, sometimes changing the course of history, and sometimes signaling the end of entire civilizations. The pandemic continues to pose downside risks to the outlook. Despite a decline in global cases and deaths since the most recent peak in late April, some countries – including the UK, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, South Africa, Oman, Colombia, Russia and Kuwait (Figure 5) – are experiencing new waves, including the more transmissible ‘Delta’ variant. In the UK, the Delta variant has delayed reopening despite a relatively high vaccination rate. We see a risk that the UK experience will be repeated in other countries in the coming months, particularly those still in the early stages of vaccine rollout. In the EU, 90% of cases are expected to be of the Delta variant by end-August. The more recent emergence of the ‘Delta plus’ variant, which is potentially even more transmissible, highlights that new variants will continue to pose a significant threat until cases are brought down sufficiently on a global scale. Vaccination rates remain low across a swathe of economies, and estimates of the point at which herd immunity is reached have increased as new variants have emerged