Here is how you can fight fear, loathing and loneliness in the wake of Coronavirus

• The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared coronavirus as a public health emergency as the number of infected cases continue to rise.
  
• The disease affects mental health of people as they follow social distancing and other precautionary measures.
  
• To overcome this anxiety, WHO and local governments have suggested ways to cope up with the pandemic.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared coronavirus as a public health emergency of international level as the number of infected cases continue to rise. The spread of the disease has shaken the economy, disrupted routines, and is causing stress and anxiety.

As many as 7,000 people have lost their lives to the novel coronavirus so far — including three in India. As the government intends to control it, people started to practice social distancing leading to psychological distress.

Seek information updates once or twice a day

WHO defines mental health as a state of well-being where the individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life and remain productive. However, the constant stream of reports around the outbreak may cause anxiety and distress. To overcome this, WHO suggests that information updates should be checked once or twice a day only.

“Avoid watching, reading or listening to news that cause you to feel anxious or distressed; seek information mainly to take practical steps to prepare your plans and protect yourself and loved ones,” it said.

Alcohol and other drugs

In addition, employing healthy and basic coping mechanisms like eating sufficiently, engaging in physical activity and working in shifts can also help.

“Avoid using unhelpful coping strategies such as tobacco, alcohol or other drugs. In the long term, these can worsen your mental and physical wellbeing. This is a unique and unprecedented scenario for many workers, particularly if they have not been involved in similar responses. The strategies to benefit feelings of stress are the same, even if the scenario is different,” the WHO guidelines said.

The health regulator also recommends voicing positive stories of those who recovered.

Digital means of contact

Many companies asked employees to work from home and restrict travel. This accelerated the demand for video conferencing platforms. In fact, the shares of Zoom video and Skype soared while the rest of the market has been plummeting for weeks now.

WHO advises to stay in contact with the closed ones via digital technologies too, so as to maintain contact.


“Turn to your colleagues, your manager or other trusted persons for social support- your colleagues may be having similar experiences to you. Use understandable ways to share messages with people with intellectual, cognitive and psychosocial disabilities. Forms of communication that do not rely solely on written information should be utilized If you are a team leader or manager in a health facility,” said WHO.

Exam stress among students

The students are facing unexpected school closures and assessments in the wake of coronavirus. All of this is adding to the mental stress of students.

“Today, mental health has become a big issue worldwide. If you’re planning your life and the exams get postponed by, say a month — that is a setback. The students get stressed waiting the entire year for exams, so when it is deferred it is actually not a relief, it is more stress until it happens,” Ronnie Screwvala, co-founder and chairman of upGrad told Business Insider in an earlier interview.

“Help children find positive ways to express disturbing feelings such as fear and sadness. Sometimes engaging in a creative activity, such as playing, and drawing can facilitate this process.” WHO said.

Moreover, competitive exams are an added stress to the students appearing for board exams this year. As students compete with a large number of aspirants for engineering and medical entrances, the fear of rejection is high.

“Often it is seen that students think a 10 CGPA in board examination is sufficient to secure a good rank in JEE whereas both are different ball games. So, setting a goal based on performance in another exam can lead to disappointment, thereby causing stress or anxiety among students,” said Partha Halder, Centre Head, FIITJEE, Delhi.

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Coronavirus: Number of cases in India stands at 140; 13 cured and three dead