TY - JOUR T1 - Overview of mental health issues of COVID-19: need of the hour JF - General Psychiatry JO - Gen Psych DO - 10.1136/gpsych-2020-100233 VL - 33 IS - 3 SP - e100233 AU - Barikar Chandrappa Malathesh AU - Seshadri Sekhar Chatterjee AU - Soumitra Das Y1 - 2020/06/01 UR - http://gpsych.bmj.com/content/33/3/e100233.abstract N2 - To the Editor,First detected in Wuhan, China, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS CoV 2) virus is creating havoc worldwide and having an unprecedented impact on public health and society, so much so that it was declared a ‘Public Health Emergency of International Concern’ in January 2020 and further as a ‘pandemic’ in March 2020. So far, it has affected more than 1.7 million people all over the world, causing 110 thousand deaths across 195 countries.1 At present, different countries are in different stages of this viral transmission ranging from imported cases only to community transmission. So, in this regard, WHO has come out with strategies like promoting personal hygiene, social distancing, isolation of confirmed cases and quarantine of suspected cases.2 Adding on to that, each country has imposed legal and policy measures like lockdown of cities and imposing curfew, banning all modes transport, shutting down all non-essential services and so on. Despite the above measures, many developed countries have not been able to contain the coronavirus disease of 2019 (covid-19) and ensure adequate medical care to the affected.3 Furthermore, there is rapid, uncontrolled spread of false and unreliable information on social media about the covid-19 pandemic, which has been termed as an ‘infodemic’, resulting in … ER -