Currently, a total of 287,184 COVID-19 cases and 4482 deaths have been recorded in Ethiopia, still with a distressing incremental distribution rate. Despite the current fast spread and the inadequate responses of government, organizations, and peoples, the pandemic COVID-19 impacts further trigger the social, political, and economic complexity, which induce the slowdown of economic growth plus the current economic crises of Ethiopia. Therefore, this paper aims to determine and quantify the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on household poverty and propose government actions and policy issues to combat these horrible pandemics. Analytical tools like FGT index, decomposition by area of residence and by consumption expenditure growth, Gini index by group, the elasticity of poverty by growth expenditure, and elasticity of poverty to inequality were used based on 2018/19 Ethiopias' fourth round of living standard measurement study data, to measure the pattern, incidence, severity, and elasticity of poverty. The finding of this study based on base and mild scenario suggested incidence of poverty at the national level would be expected to increase from 21 % to 24 %, and the poverty gap from 2.1% to 2.5 %. The Amhara region primarily contributes to the higher sources of this national poverty incidence. Absolute poverty is higher in rural areas where many people live. The higher share of inequality arises from the inequality within each area, and poverty reduction is more elastic in response to consumption expenditure affected by the pandemic in rural areas.

Keywords: COVID-19, pandemic, impact, scenario, poverty