In Germany, with the latest round of lockdown being clamped from December 16 to January 10, about 2,50,000 jobs are at risk. Considering that almost 9,000 new cases of COVID-19 infections are being registered daily COVID-19, the German government expects all non-essential stores and enterprises to remain shut during this period. This means, about 50,000 enterprises that employ over two lakh people may end up going bankrupt. Hopes are pinned on the Government to provide financial assistance to cover the losses that will be incurred.
The enterprises hope that the Government’s aid will be made available taking into account the present scenario and without any unnecessary hassles, otherwise all those enterprises that are unable to gain from shifting to the online mode of marketing will have to shut down for good. Only the online food delivery/sale enterprises and those into online marketing will be able to survive, while the rest will lose up to one-fifth of their revenue.
Additionally, the lockdown comes close to the New Year holiday, when sales actually spike, under normal circumstances. That is the time for profit making usually. However, this time round, with the lockdown being imposed till January 10, even outlets in the stationery space will incur a loss of 2.7 per cent, which is about €13 billion. The retail industry will lose about seven per cent of its revenue as compared to this same period last year. At the same time, the enterprises that are able to shift to online marketing will profit, with their revenues expected to go up by €20 million.
According to Johns Hopkins University, Germany has confirmed 6,451 new cases of the coronavirus over the past 24 hours, with the total number of infections reaching 1,357,261. On Monday, Germany registered.
