COVID-19 Pandemic Severity as an Indicator of Supply Chain Stability and Logistics Performance

Of the adverse effects on the global economy following the onset of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), the disruption of the global supply chain process stands at the forefront of these factors contributing to the downturn of economies on a global scale. This study aims to identify and investigate the prominent COVID-19 factors that have played a pivotal role in affecting the global supply chain process in a time-series dataset spanning from February 24, 2020 to February 14, 2022 for a panel of 139 global countries. This study identifies daily COVID-19 cases and the case-fatality ratio as critical factors that negatively impact the global supply chain process. This finding directly results from the global closures of seaports and airports taken as precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the virus. Based on these findings, this study concludes with the importance of supply chain strength and stability to empower the transfer and dissemination of necessary goods and services to lessen the impact of such global pandemics on society as a whole. If the necessary measures and policies are put in place to ensure such a free flow of sustainable logistics supply, global economies would experience an emergence out of economic depression