Fear of coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19), a pandemic too

Abstract

Current management of coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) focusses on infection control, development of a vaccine and the treatment of patients with little emphasis on psychosocial aspects. This study aimed at studying the prevalence and variables associated with fear of COVID-19 on Indian population. A cross sectional study was conducted on 1002 participants via an online survey and the data was analysed by SPSS version 26. The mean age of population was 32.29 with a SD of 14.17. Of the total population, 54.1 % were males and 45.9% were females. 15% of the population had anxiety and depression and 15% had fear of death across ages and literacy levels. Subjects with low education, lower income, staying away from the family and being tested for COVID-19, had higher levels of fear. Higher levels of fear were amongst news watchers and COVID-19 message forwarders. Amongst the infected or the contact population there was a lot of fear reaction to the disease. This study highlighted the fear spread among various groups of the population and a need for better pandemic preparedness.

Keywords

• covid-19
• anxiety
• mental health
• pandemic preparedness
• coronavirus