Life in the pandemic: Social isolation and mental health

Abstract

<p>Quarantine or physical isolation, used for centuries to contain the spread of infection, isolates those who have (or may have) been infected by a contagious disease to control or limit contamination. The COVID-19, a novel coronavirus first reported in Wuhan, China, in late 2019, has rapidly spread across the globe becoming a pandemic. Modern quarantine strategies have been imposed globally in an attempt to curtail the spread of the COVID-19 infection including short- to medium-term lockdowns, voluntary home curfew, restriction on the assembly of groups of people, cancellation of planned social and public events, closure of mass transit systems and other travel restrictions. These restrictions imposed because of the COVID-19 outbreak, have caused significant disruption globally, and to individuals, families, communities and whole countries. They have affected much (if not all) of the world's population; drastically altering what is familiar, and complicating aspects of daily life that were previously simple and uncomplicated. For many people, daily life is changed dramatically, and the "normal" ways of life as we know them are suspended indefinitely.</p>