CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Coronaviruses (CoV) are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common
cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). A novel coronavirus (nCoV) is a new strain
that has not been previously identified in humans. Coronaviruses are zoonotic, meaning they are
transmitted between animals and people. Detailed investigations found that SARS-CoV was
transmitted from civet cats to humans and MERS-CoV from dromedary camels to humans.
Several known coronaviruses are circulating in animals that have not yet infected humans.

Common signs of infection include respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath and
breathing difficulties. In more severe cases, infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute
respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death.

Standard recommendations to prevent infection spread include regular hand washing, covering
mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing, thoroughly cooking meat and eggs. Avoid close
contact with anyone showing symptoms of respiratory illness such as coughing and sneezing.

Covid-19 has resulted in a widespread change in the lifestyle of people in the past few months.
Since its outbreak, the virus has been affecting people physically, financially and emotionally as
well. While the physical and financial impacts find a voice by many, the emotional side
somewhere remains less expressed but no doubt it is of great relevance and needs to be analyzed.
Due to a sudden change in the entire world as a result of the pandemic, the social lives of people
were disrupted.

From a daily routine of going to offices, schools and colleges, we were all locked up in our
homes in the blink of an eye as a result of the lockdown. This sudden and drastic change caused
a change in the mental balance of people as well. The continued stay at home somewhere led to
psychological stress as there was no face to face interaction between people. The feeling of
helplessness about the pandemic struck almost everyone, the anxiety of getting affected also
prevented people from moving out of their places. People had to resort to “the new normal” –
work from home which has its own complications of maintaining enough productivity, handling
work and home etc. While the uncertain environment also led to the fear of losing jobs in the
minds of many, especially workers. For students, this was a tough time as well; some had their
exams left to be conducted, while those on the verge of their degree completion had a grave
uncertainty about their future career. Meanwhile many schools and colleges continued online
classes as well. Concentrating well on studies became a matter of concern in this strenuous
period of a global pandemic, while everyone around seems to be stressed out, it is obvious for
students to feel the psychological impact as well. The only way out of this negative
psychological consequence seems to be resorting to a positive mindset. Only a positive attitude
can help in coming out from a negative situation. While many of these psychological impacts
still continue to disturb people, changes in our lifestyle might help to come out of stress. Yoga is
a great way to maintain physical health as well as a healthy mind. There is no vaccine yet to
prevent the pandemic, nor its impacts. Therefore building up immunity, both physical and mental
might be a possible attempt on our part to survive this pandemic and come out of it as stronger
individuals.
CHAPTER 2: PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACT ON CHILDREN MIDDLE AGE GROUPS
AND OLD PEOPLE

COVID-19 affects all of us, no matter how old we are. Like with everyone, not every child reacts
the same way. Some children might not be very concerned, whereas others develop unpleasant
feelings. Like adults, children also have different personalities and levels of resilience, which
affects their wellbeing. Some children might develop higher levels of stress, feeling restless or
grumpy. Some might develop anxiety and become irritable, aggressive or scared. Depending on
how long the situation lasts, feelings of sadness or depression could appear, which could lead to
social withdrawal or crying. All these feelings can also display in physical reactions including
stomachaches, headaches, or loss of appetite. The lack of routine is probably one of the biggest
factors affects children. Routines (e.g. getting up at 6.30 am, kindergarten/school from 8 am to 3
pm, meeting friends, having dinner, going to bed at 8 pm) give children structure and a
framework they can rely on, which is very important. Routine and structure give them a feeling
of safety and comfort.

It was an online survey which was conducted using Google Forms with link sent using
WhatsApp. It is seen that 44.9 % people were worried or depressed in the past few weeks,49%
were thinking of getting tested despite showing no symptoms, 65% were worried about the
financial losses that are occurring during this period, 30.6% were preoccupied with the idea of
contracting COVID-19, 38.8% were threatened of their existence, 46.9% were getting difficult to
adjust to the new routine during this period,28.6% were suffering from sleep disturbance pattern,
79.6% people think that people have not taken the social distancing strategy too seriously, 71.4%
think that this lockdown has benefitted the country from spreading the virus, 42.9 are not
satisfied with the steps taken by government to stop the spread of virus, 95.9% are worrying too
much its effect on their family health and safety, 49% are becoming so restless that it is hard to
sit still, 63.3% are getting easily amused or irritable, 59.3% are losing interest or pleasure in
doing things and 12.2% experience it nearly everyday, 59.2% are worrying too much about its
effect on the nation and 61.2% are worring about its effect on the world, 59.2% thinks that
something awful might happen, 28.6% are overeating or experiencing poor appetite, 53.1% are
having trouble concentrating on things such as reading newspaper or watching television, 57.1%
are feeling tired or having little energy, 46.9% are feeling hopeless or frustrated, 51% thinks that
this pandemic will affect their career or have a lasting impact on them.

CHAPTER 3: PSYCHOLOGIACL IMPACT ON STUDENT

CHAPTER 4: NETIZENS, SOCIAL MEDIA AND COVID-19

From the survey which is conducted from google forms, it is seen that 61.2% are using social
media to look after their mental health, 40.8% are doing meditation or yoga, 59.2% eating
healthy, 40.8% drinking sensibly, 53.1% are caring for others, 46.9% are doing something they
are good at, 57.1% are keeping themselves active, 61.2% are keeping in touch with friends and
family, 57.1% are watching movies or TV shows to look after their mental health, 32.7% are
talking about their feelings with friends and family, 40.8% are playing videogames, and 61.2%
people are accepting the situation.
In recent times, enormous interconnections through online social networks (OSN) can potentially
generate ‘real-time maps’ which should be considered important tools for tracking a pandemic
and for making interventional campaigns when needed. But, new “info media ecosystems” of
today’s world, popularly termed as social media, can also have some disastrous effects on control
and outcomes of an infectious disease pandemic. Within days of onset of the COVID-19
outbreak in China, the ‘social media panic’ characterized by relentless plethora of fake
information as well as negatively skewed misinformation metastasized faster than the
coronavirus itself . The director-general of WHO has referred this to “coronavirus infodemic”
which is breeding fright and panic by laying out unchecked mind-boggling rumors, flamboyant
news propaganda and sensationalism . Mismatch between available fact sheets and dearth of
clear-cut data can be compelling to entreat information from the unreliable and dubious but
readily available social media sources. As soon as COVID-19 emerged to become a trending
online content, many bloggers, groups or personal users in YouTube, WhatsApp, Facebook,
Instagram and Twitter started the business of making a profit off COVID-19’s popularity in
many impulsive and unpredictable courses of action . Since sensationally-charged and appalling
contents draw the most attention and garner the most developments in social media, several users
feigned COVID-19 symptoms to gain easy popularity and thus purposefully sowed mass
confusion and panic . These invite a number of overwhelming mental burdens in form of anxiety,
phobia, panic spells, depression, obsession, irritability, delusions of having symptoms similar to
COVID-19 and other paranoid ideas. Health-care seekers are too much perplexed, catastrophized
and morbidly worried about COVID-19 symptoms that the normal running of healthcare systems
may get disrupted to address the mass anxiety owing to massive disinformation. These states of
affairs certify the raw potential of social media during a public health disaster.

On the contrary, other groups in social media may take different aspects of this disrupting
disease too lightly to merge them with food items or politics or economic figures or any other
irrelevant theme and display “caring a fig” attitude by creating, sharing and forwarding doctored
memes, forged screenshots and corrupted links in the name of COVID-19. This might ignite the
lamp of violation of basic pandemic rules and help people ignore the solemnity of pandemic,
thus leading to oppositional activities and social disobedience. Therapeutic misadventures tried
by lay people after being influenced by misleading social media messages are increasingly being
reported.
From the inception of this COVID-19 pandemic, social media has played an integral role in the
genesis of anti-Chinese sentiment across the globe. Conspiracy theory, derogatory headlines
about food habits, prejudiced comments regarding Chinese socio-cultural norms published in
social media, and news outlets would culminate into discrimination, isolation of an entire nation
and outburst of racism . A long-term sustained stigma, shame, stress and multitude of mental
health problems, including health crimes, might be the dire consequences of this irresponsible
behavior of netizens and media-houses. HCPs along with mass media should take the
responsibility for providing the correct information and creating an effective communication
with the citizens to curb this “infodemic” and mitigate the risk for their inappropriate behavior.
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS

Besides COVID-19, the 21st century is also the era of emerging pandemic of mental illnesses.
Thus, psychological and social preparedness of this pandemic carries global importance. The
government and stakeholders must appreciate the psychosocial morbidities of this pandemic and
assess the burden, fatalities and associated consequences. Stigma and blame targeted at
communities affected by the outbreak may hinder international trade, finance and relationships,
instigating further unrest. Due care needs to be taken to erase the stigma associated with disease,
racism, religious propaganda and psychosocial impact and needs to be implemented by regular
discussion with trained and specialist health care personnel by making task force and execution
teams who are directly engaged in health care delivery systems without creating any
communication gaps between policy makers and ground level workers.

Setting up mental health organizations specific for future pandemics with branches in many
nations and in individual healthcare institutions for research, mental healthcare delivery and
arranging awareness program at both personal and community levels is desperately needed.
Structured websites and toll free helpline numbers may be launched for alleviating psychological
distress among the general public regarding this ongoing pandemic. Social media is to be used in
good sense, to educate people on transmission dynamics, symptoms of disease, and time when
exact medical consultations are needed. To protect social media from devaluations, strict
government laws and legislation regarding fake news, social media rumors, disinformation and
misinformation are to be implemented. The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly shown us how a
“virus” can negatively impact our lives even in the 21st century and simultaneously made us
realize that the greatest assets of mankind are health, peace, love, solidarity, ingenuity, and
knowledge.