Fear associated to infectious diseases is directly related with their transmission rate, morbidity and mortality. High levels of fear associated with COVID-19 can affect people’s ability to act and think rationally. In a time of pandemics, it is essential to understand individual factors that might be associated to higher vulnerability to stress and fear.

To analyse: a)correlations between Fear of Covid-19 and clinical and sociodemographic characteristics; b)the mediator role of repetitive negative thinking on the relationship between personality traits and Fear of Covid-19.

234 adults (75.6% women; mean age=29.53±12.51) completed an on-line survey with the Portuguese version of the Fear of Covid-19 Scale (FCV-19S) and other questionnaires to evaluate clinical and sociodemographic characteristics (years of education, perceived physical and mental health and infection by Covid-19), Personality (NEO-FFI-20) and Repetitive negative thinking (PTQ-15). SPSS and Process Macro (Hays, 2020) were used.

FCV-19 mean scores were significantly higher in women and significantly correlated with years of education (r=-.14) (p<.05). History of previous/current Covid-19 infection did not significantly distinguish FCV-19 scores and they did not correlate with perceived health. FCV-19 correlated significantly with neuroticism and PTQ total and dimensional scores (r>.20, p<.01). Both Repetitive thinking and Cognitive interference were mediators of the relationship between neuroticism and fear of COVID, even after controlling for gender and education.

This study provides preliminary evidence on individual factors that might be associated to the emotional response to the Covid-19 pandemics, aiming to facilitate public health initiatives to ease people’s fears in a near future.

As a result of the emergence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak caused by acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in the Chinese city of Wuhan, a situation of socio-economic crisis and profound psychological distress rapidly occurred worldwide.

This work aimed to comprehensively review the current literature about the impact of COVID-19 infection on the mental health in the general population.

A detailed review has been conducted in order to identify the main psychopatological consequences related to Covid-19 infection in the general population.

Various psychological problems and important consequences in terms of mental health including stress, anxiety, depression, frustration, uncertainty during COVID-19 outbreak emerged progressively. The psychological impact of quarantine related to COVID-19 infection has been additionally documented together with the most relevant psychological reactions in the general population related to COVID-19 outbreak.

The role of risk and protective factors against the potential to develop psychiatric disorders in vulnerable individuals with Covid-19 infection need to be carefully addressed in the clinical practice.

More than in other conditions, fear is associated with infectious diseases, and is directly associated with its transmission rate, morbidity and mortality. High levels of fear can affect the individual’s ability to think clearly, react proportionately and make rational decisions in the context of COVID-19. Recently, Mertens et al. (2020) developed the Fear of Covid-19 Scale (FCV-19S) to measure this construct.

To analyse the psychometric properties of the FCV-19S Portuguese version, namely construct validity, internal consistency and convergent validity.

A community sample of 234 adults (75.6% women; mean age= 29.53±12.51; range:16-71) completed an on-line survey with the Portuguese versions of the FCV-19S, the Covid-19 Perceived Risk Scale (CPRS) and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21).The total sample was randomly divided in two sub-samples: sample A (n=117) was used to perform an exploratory factor analysis/EFA; sample B (n=117) to make a confirmatory factor analysis/CFA.

EFA resulted in one component. CFA revealed that the unifactorial model presented acceptable fit indexes (X2/df=3.291; CFI=.977; GFI=.932; TLI=.919; p[RMSEA≤.01]=.091). Cronbach alpha was α=.855. The total score significantly correlated with Covid-19 Perceived Risk (r=.529, p<.01) and with anxiety from DASS-21 (r=.132, p<.05).

This study provides preliminary evidence for the validity and reliability of the Portuguese version of FCV-19S, which will be used in an ongoing research project on the relationship between fear of Covid-19, personality, cognitive processes and adherence to public health measures to contain the pandemic.

The Covid-19 pandemic has a profound impact on all domains of day to day life, forcing individuals to make substancial change in the way of living. Such change is known to cause an important psychological distress, and in some persons evidencing silent disorders among apparently functional individuals. Good coping mechanisms and resilience can be the key to overpass this difficult period.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the coping mechanisms and resilience that Romanian psychiatric trainees used during Covid19 pandemic.

We developed an online questionnaire. We included questions about different socio-demographical variables and about coping mechanisms (using COPE scale), resilience (using Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale) and quality of life (using QoL Scale).

The preliminary data show that staying busy, seeking social support and having a positive minset are emotion-focused coping strategies present in individuals who overpass easier this period.

The Covid-19 pandemic is creating significant distress and impairment in functioning, but individuals who have good psychological mechanisms and who are more adaptable are less vulnerable during Covid-19 pandemic. Future research should build upon these findings to better understand coping mechanisms during crises and also social policies should be developed to acknowledge the variable needs in adults.

In December 2019, the first cases of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak related to acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection were reported in the Chinese city of Wuhan. European countries experienced a tragic growth in the number of Covid-19 cases although several restrictions have been imposed.

The study is aimed to describe the first experience of the Hospital Papa Giovanni XXIII in the city of Bergamo, Northern Italy.

The most relevant clinical characteristics of aged patients with COVID-19 and mental disorders have been described.

According to the experience of the Hospital Papa Giovanni XXIII, medical departments, after appropriate training of all healthcare workers, have been rapidly converted into specific units aimed at treating patients with COVID-19 infection. Specifically, we directly observed a rapidly growing request of psychiatric interventions in aged patients with COVID-19 infection due to the emergence of severe delirium (mainly hyperkinetic) which was reported in approximately 30−50% of cases increasing with age, psychomotor agitation, anxiety, and depressive symptoms. When compared with younger subjects, we found that subjects aged 65 or above with prolonged hospitalization in our hospital are more vulnerable to: 1) environmental factors (e.g., social isolation and distance from family members, stay in intensive/subintensive units, communication difficulties due to therapeutic devices); 2) individual factors (e.g., COVID-19 possible neurotropic properties, impairments in insight and cognitive dysfunctions, comorbid medical conditions, and use of multiple medications).

The main implications of the present findings have been discussed.

In these unprecedented times, the medical workers particularly at the frontlines of the pandemic are vulnerable to psychological trauma rooted in the new demands of their work, as well as the prevailing sense of insecurity and safety concerns for themselves and their loved ones.

To explore the mental health impact of the covid-19 pandemic on the front-line health care workers in a tertiary care hospital in Rawalpindi, Pakistan

Frontline healthcare workers will include all doctors, nurses and paramedical staff performing duties that involve dealing directly with known or suspected cases of COVID-19 at triage clinics, ICUs and isolation wards. Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS) and Impact of events scale-revised (IES-R) were administered to them to assess the mental health of these frontlines.

A total of 94 frontlines were included in the study. 76(80.9%) had no significant depression while 18 (19.1%) had presence of significant depression. 62 (66%) had no significant anxiety while 32 (34%) had significant anxiety. Female gender and degree of contact with high clinical suspicion cases were significantly related with presence of anxiety and depression among the study participants. Being female, single, a nurse or a paramedic and degree of contact with high clinical suspicion cases was significantly related with presence of stress among the frontlines. People working in ICU or corona isolation unit had more chances of having trauma as compared to other frontlines.

Depression, anxiety, stress and trauma were common among the front liners fighting in this pandemic

In this crisis situation when everybody has been emphasizing on preventive measures, screening, early recognition and provision of necessary equipment, less emphasis has been laid on the mental health of the sufferers who have been listening news and following social media reporting catastrophe linked with COVID 19.

To look for the psychiatric morbidity and associated socio-demographic factors among patients tested positive and isolated for covid-19

All patients tested positive for covid-19 and admitted in Covid-19 ward of Malir hospital without any associated complications were included in the study. General Health Questionare-12 (GHQ-12) was administered to look for the presence of psychiatric morbidity. Chi-square test and binary logistic regression analysis were the tests applied to look for the relationship of various socio-demographic factors with presence of psychiatric morbidity among the target population.

Out of 61 patients included in the study, 45 (73.7%) showed the presence of psychiatric morbidity while 16 (26.3%) did not show psychiatric morbidity when screened with GHQ-12. 43 (70.4%) were male while 18 (29.6%) were female. Mean age of the patients was 35.21 ±2.355 years. Regression analysis revealed that advanced age and female gender have statistically significant relationship (p-value<0.05) with presence of psychiatric morbidity among patients of covid-19.

A considerable number of patients had psychiatric morbidity after being tested positive for covid-19 and isolated in the health facility. Female patients and patients with age more than 40 years were found to be more at risk of developing psychiatric morbidity among the patients admitted in covid-19 ward.

Lockdown due to coronavirus pandemic has been a stressful experience especially to mothers. Juggling work from home and childcare has led to maternal burn out and depression.

The aim of the present study was to assess maternal burn-out rate during lockdown and its eventual relationship with depression and associated factors

156 Tunisian mothers responded to online questionnaire posted on social network after 1 month of lockdown. The questionnaire evaluated burnout and depression as measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and depression and anxiety symptoms (HADS) respectively.

The participants were aged between 24 and 64 years and 61.5% had more than one child. Mean score on the BMS10 was 4.11 out of 7 maximum score with 71.8% of participants fulfilling criteria for maternal burn-out. Among them, 30.1% had high level of burn out and 9.6% extreme burn out. The main factors associated with maternal burn out were age of children, financial difficulties and lack of leisure activities. Mother’s age, perceived husband support, medical or psychiatric history haven’t been associated with maternal burn out. HADS questionnaire indicated that 38.5% of mothers had moderate to severe anxiety disorder and 35,9% had moderate to severe depressive disorder. A postive correlation was found between burnout and anxiety (r=0.634, p<0.001) and burn out and depression (r=0.515, p<0.001).

The prevalence of maternal burn out during lockdown was significantly high resulting in higher rate of depression than ususal. However, severe forms of burnout may share several characteristics with depression raising the question of overlap of these two entities.

Burn-out syndrome is an underestimated entity in the medical environment, and lack of health policies for screening, prevention and early phase treatment strategies may be responsable for complications of this syndrome, e.g. major depression, substance use disorders, or anxiety disorders. Large variations in the estimation of burn-out prevalence in healthcare providers may be related to poorly designed epidemiological trials and lack of well-defined criteria for diagnosis.

To analyse the current evidence in the literature about the diagnosis and treatment of burn-out syndrome in physicians and auxiliary personnel.

A literature review was performed through the main medical databases (Cochrane Database of Systematic reviews, PubMed, Thomson Reuters/Web of Science, SCOPUS, EMBASE, CINAHL) using the search paradigm “burn-out” AND “healthcare providers” OR “physicians” AND “nurses”. All papers published between January 2000 and August 2020 were included in the primary analysis.

A large number of papers were detected in the primary analysis (n=245), but only 15 remained after the inclusion/exclusion criteria were applied. Maslach Inventory for Burnout is the most extensively used instrument for screening, but its validity is questioned, and new instruments have been created, but less frequently applied. Cognitive behavioral therapy led to improvement of the emotional exhaustion in multiple trials. Meditation techniques, music therapy, structured physical exercises, and management-related interventions have been associated with low to moderate degree of success.

Burn-out syndrome is a still insufficiently explored diagnosis and more good-quality epidemiological and clinical trials are needed in order to support adequate prevention and treatment strategies.

On March 13th 2020, in execution of the Law Decree 14/2020 regarding the reorganization of National Health Care related to COVID-19 emergency, all non-urgent outpatient healthcare services were suspended in Italy. The present work describes remote support and online group psychotherapy set in motion during COVID-19 emergency for outpatients with Binge Eating Disorder.

Aim of the present work is to describe and evaluate online support and group psychotherapy for outpatients with Binge Eating Disorder during lockdown due to COVID-19 emergency. Outcomes were evaluated by remote administration of questionnaires.

20 outpatients with Binge Eating Disorder, treated by psychotherapists of Hospital Psychology Unit in Psychiatry Day Hospital of an Italian General Hospital, received remote support by phone calls and online group psychotherapy from march to may 2020. During the first two weeks, patients were supported via phone calls. From the third week on, they took part to online group psychotherapy sessions, held every week at the same day and time. Pre-post remote administration of Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation-Outcome Measure (CORE-OM) and the Questionnaire of Eating Behaviours (Scheda dei Comportamenti Alimentari, SCA) was used to evaluate outcomes. Data were analyzed by Student’s t-test.

No significant difference was found, thus indicating stability of symptomatology.

Lockdown was a highly stressful period, in which many people lost control on eating behaviours and those with Binge Eating Disorder were expected to have an exacerbation of symptoms. Remote support and online group psychotherapy proved effective in protecting patients from a possible aggravation of their condition.

COVID-19 is a respiratory disease and its main symptoms are fever, dry cough and difficulty breathing. It spread to several countries, which led the World Health Organization to decree, on March 11, 2020, a pandemic state that deeply affected Brazil. Due to the impossibility of leaving the house, the routine of children with autism was changed. Children in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have a qualitative deficit in social interaction. Clinical and daily observations reinforce several scientific studies that defend the importance of maintaining a routine as stable as possible for people with ASD, without this stability they may become emotionally disorganized, feel discomfort or even irritability.

Investigate the impact caused by social distancing on the development of children and adolescents with autism.

An online questionnaire based on the DIR/Floortime basic map of emotional functional capacity development was distributed in Brazil from April to May, 2020. The results were analyzed using SPSS software.

Results obtained from 122 questionnaires showed that after 30 days of quarantine 20% of children no longer had the characteristic of being able to remain calm and organized for at least 2 minutes; 11% no longer initiates interactions with their parents; 27% demonstrated more protests and anger than before the social distancing; 18% demonstrated more emotions such as anger, fear and intimacy, 28% began to understand their limits and 12% of the children are using greater facial expression during the social distancing.

This study brings results that can help to understand the processes in a child with autism.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, health workers represented a group particularly vulnerable to work-related stress, but prevention and management of psychiatric symptoms are still under evaluation. Neurofeedback is a safe and non-invasive neuromodulation technique with the target of training participants in the self-regulation of neural substrates underlying specific psychiatric disorders. Protocols based on the increase of alpha frequencies, associated with the process of relaxation, are used for the treatment of stress, anxiety and sleep disturbances.

The aim of the present study was to assess the effectiveness of an alpha-increase NF protocol for the treatment of stress in healthcare workers exposed to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Eighteen medical doctors belonging to the Sacco Hospital were recruited during the COVID-19 health emergency and underwent a 10 sessions NF alpha-increase protocol during two consecutive weeks. The level of stress was assessed at the beginning (T0) and at the end (T1) of the protocol through the following questionnaires: Severity of Acute Symptoms Stress (SASS), Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Brief-COPE. Statistical analyses were performed with Paired Samples t-Test for continuous variables, setting significance at p < 0.05.

A significant increase in alpha waves mean values between T0 and T1 was observed. In addition, a significant reduction in the PSQI test score between T0 and T1 was observed.

Alpha-increase protocol showed promising results in terms of stress modulation, sleep quality improvement and safety profile in a pilot sample of health-care workers. Larger controlled studies are warranted to confirm present results.

As coronavirus pandemic burst in Spain in March 2020, Zamudio Hospital -a monographic psychiatric institution- was urged to create an specific Covid unit. It was destined to patients with psychiatric admission criteria, who in addition oscillated between positive asymptomatics or with mild symptoms to suspect cases or close contacts.

To describe and analyse the characteristics of the unit and the patients who were admitted during the confinement period by Covid-19, between March 14th and June 21st 2020.

The patients’ data were collected retrospectively. These data included: age; sex; admission criteria; diagnosis at discharge; confirmed/ suspected/contact case; presence/absence of symptoms; length of hospital stay; number of doctor on call assessment.

An area within the hospital wards was reserved to COVID cases / suspected / contact patients requiring psychiatric care. The storing of material and PPE was held in the forementioned area, according to protocolary measures. 26 Patients (11 women and 15 men) were admitted to the unit. Mean age was 44 years old. Diagnosis at discharge were mainly Schizophrenia (31%), Schizoaffective disorder (23%), other psicosis (11,5%) and Bipolar disorder (8%). The mean hospital stay was 5 days. There were a total of 7 confirmed positive cases, all with asyptomatic-mild course.

The establishment of this unit has ensured a proper psychiatric care and a strict control of Covid-19 transmission within patients and staff members.

ECT is an effective care with high level of recommendation. During the COVID19, new recommendations to protect patients and caregivers combined with the increasing use of medicines and medical devices (MD) for anesthesia, caused greater difficulties of supply. Even if vital for patients, it is challenging to maintain ECT in this environment.

The aim of this study is to resume the measures implemented in order to maintain ECT during COVID19.

Retrospective analysis of measures implemented to maintain the ECT during COVID19.

As FFP2 masks were restricted to intensive care units, our hospital were not supplied. After negotiations, the regional health agency (ARS) has granted us an allocation of 100 masks to maintain ECT. Our efficient stock management of personal protective equipment as well as our transparency on these stocks with ARS and sharing with other hospitals out of stock played a role in this agreement.We had to adapt our MDs references according to breaks of many ones and new recommendations. The university hospital helping us in supplying certain missing references. Considering the difficulties in supplying drugs and MDs, and limited availability of anesthetists, we have reduced the number of ECT. Prioritization of patients with vital indications had to be achieved.

The prioritization of some services by the regulatory agency causes many supply difficulties for the others. It would be important to reassess the priority of ECT in such crisis because most of the time other caregivers and regulatory agencies are not aware how they are vital for patients.

Studies from the beginning of 2020 show that symptoms of depression and anxiety are increasing among health care workers. It is important to assess the dynamics of health care workers mental health.

To assess the dynamic of symptoms of depression and anxiety among health care workers over a 3-month period during the COVID-19 pandemia in Latvia.

A longitudinal cohort study of symptoms of depression and anxiety in the population of physicians, physician assistants and nurses in Latvia during the COVID-19 pandemia. Symptoms of depression were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) scale, symptoms of anxiety were assessed using the General Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) scale, cut-off score for both scales was 10. Initial data was collected on April-May 2020 with a 3 month follow-up.. Data was analyzed using SPSS- Related-Samples McNemar test.

348 physicians were initially included (women 83,9%, mean age 45,17±14,02) and 376 physicians assistants and nurses (women 88,2%, mean age 39,99±12,97). After the 3-month follow up 189 physicians (women 88,40%, mean age 45,01±13,57) and 141 physicians assistants and nurses were left (women 88,00%, mean age 39,96 ±12,59). During the 3 months symptoms of depression among physicians rose from 26,80% (n=94) to 27,5% (n=52), symptoms of anxiety from 17,70% (n=62) to 20,6% (n=39). Depression symptoms among physician assistants and nurses dropped from 25,50% (n=96) to 23,9% (n=34), symptoms of anxiety stayed almost the same 18,20% (n=68) to 18,30% (n=26). Symptoms of depression among physicians changed from 26,80% (n=94) to 27,5% (n=52), symptoms of anxiety from 17,70% (n=62) to 20,6% (n=39), changes were not statistically significant (p=0,281; p=0,725). Symptoms of depression among physician assistants and nurses changed from 25,50% (n=96) to 23,9% (n=34), symptoms of anxiety from 18,20% (n=68) to 18,30% (n=26), changes were not statistically significant (p=0,405; p=0,664).

No change in the dynamics of symptoms of depression and anxiety among health care workers over a 3-month period during the COVID-19 pandemia in Latvia was observed.

The high COVID-19 morbidity and mortality are observed among residents in long-term care facilities (LTCF) worldwide. Employees of LTCF, who are facing a critical epidemiological situation endangering the vulnerable residents, are exposed to pandemic’s psychological consequences daily.

The main aim of this study was to assess psychological consequences (somatic symptoms, anxiety and insomnia, social dysfunction, and depression) among LTCF employees exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic crisis. Moreover, we investigated if factors such as: personal protective equipment (PPE) availability, safety guidelines or access to psychiatric and psychological support at the workplace, correlated with the level of psychological distress experienced by personnel.

A cross-sectional study was conducted among personnel of LTCF in Poland. The survey consisted of the sociodemographic section, the authors’ questionnaire with questions related to COVID-19 exposure, working conditions, access to PPE and mental health services, GHQ Questionnaire-28.

show that access to PPE (P= .018), to workplace safety guidelines (P= .031), psychological support at workplace (P<0.01), fixed shift schedule (P= .05) and feeling that the right number of staff are employed in the workplace (P= .009), were related to the lower severity of psychopathological symptoms evaluated with the GHQ-28.

The study indicates an evidence that LTCF personnel are susceptible to the development of anxiety, depression, insomnia and social dysfunction during the pandemic crisis. However, these can be modified by: access to PPE, safety guidelines and psychological support. Findings from this study lay a basis for effective interventions aiming to support psychological health within this group.

Smart care in offices and industrials approach has the best way for the results of staying healthy in the transmission chain and this issue is not only a moral necessity but also it can be a successful plan where personal care centers start keeping the patients, employees, and experts of healthcare ward healthy by digital industries. In this project, the environment along with the individual`s body scan and accessing his /her biomarkers, the environment mechanism will be approached to the welfare level to disappear the disease, then change the air by antiseptic materials for air conditioning desirably.

Designing the self-care environment by accessing the smart elements decreases the pathogenic factors in the environment, by scanning the individual`s case and inquiring from health base, the features of the environmental elements will be optimized to normal situation.

Content analysis of environmental components of space and categorizing of sensors. Determining the basic model for programming Designing the architectural environment in accordance with the standards set in the previous section, preparation of the model with thermal, biological, biochemical,.sensors.

Designing the self-care environment by accessing the smart elements decreases the pathogenic factors in the environment, by scanning the individual`s case and inquiring from health base, the features of the environmental elements will be optimized to normal situation.

By a positive design in architectural changes in care units in the field of public spaces, offices and industrial parts, we can easily control individual behaviors in the face of pandemic diseases and decline their psychic side effects.

Our work experience requires investment to run on a real scale

The effect of COVID-19 on different age groups is not the same. It is of great interest to see how specifically students, who are regarded as a less susceptible group, relate to COVID-19 during the period of government imposed lockdown.

To determine the factorial structure of the revealed university students’ attitudes to COVID-19 during the period of lockdown and distance learning.

We questioned online 127 male and 200 female Russian universities students during their distance learning. We used a 17-point Attitude towards COVID-19 Questionnaire based on the results of the half-structured interview with the students. We subjected the received data to a factor analysis.

With the principal components method, we obtained a five-factor structure of the questionnaire under study with the total variance of 65.2%. According to the content of the questions, we defined these factors in the following way: factor of COVID-19 danger to the society (with variance – 20.2%); factor of ruined personal life plans (14.0%); factor of COVID-19 threat to personal health and life (13.9%); factor of disbelief in COVID-19 dangers (9.1%) and factor of expecting new pandemics (8.0%). Here is the hierarchy of the mean numbers of students who had maximal points in each of the factors mentioned: 66.6%; 59.3%; 24.4%; 23.9% and 23.2%.

The students’ attitudes to COVID-19 depended on different tendencies during the lockdown period. The prevailing perception of COVID-19 as a real threat to health and life went together with the undervaluation of its significance and a shift to everyday life issues.

Lockdown imposed by the Tunisian government had a psychological impact such as depression, stress and anxiety, which triggered the development of eating disorders especially binge eating disorder.

To screen the binge eating disorder among general population in Gabes (south of Tunisia) and to identify factors associated with it.

We conducted a cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical web-based survey, from April 19, 2020, to May 5, 2020 on Facebook on citizens living in south of Tunisia. During this period, the total confirmed cases of COVID-19 exceeded 900 in Tunisia. We used a self-administered anonymous questionnaire containing citizen’s sociodemographic and clinical data. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) criteria were used to assess Binge-Eating Disorder.

A total of 331 persons were included. They were females (65%) and singles (43,2%). 71% of our population were aged between 20 and 40 years old. Among citizens of southern Tunisia, 6,9% suffered from binge eating disorder during this period of the lockdown. Binge eating disorders were associated to past psychiatric history (2,1% vs 4,53%, p<10-3), history of eating disorder (4,5% vs 2,4%, p<10-3), social isolation (5,1% vs 1,8%, p=0,015) and lack of physical activity (3,3% vs 3,9%, p=0,025).

Our study showed that lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the eating behavior of citizens of southern Tunisia. It is therefore important to screen them in order to manage them before complications emerge.

On March, Tunisian government imposed lockdown measures on cities to contain the COVID19 outbreak. Media coverage, social distancing, quarantine and isolation led to a global atmosphere of anxiety and depression.

To assess the level of anxiety and depression among citizens of southern Tunisia and theirs associated factors.

We conducted a cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical online-based survey, from April 19, 2020, to May 5, 2020 on 331 citizens living in south of Tunisia. During this period, the total confirmed cases of COVID-19 exceeded 900 in Tunisia. We used a self-administered anonymous questionnaire containing citizen’s sociodemographic and clinical data. Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD) validated in the Tunisian dialectal version was used to assess anxiety and depression. Data were analysed using SPSS version 21.

The 331 Participants were males (35%), singles (43,2%),aged between 20 and 40 years old(71%). From them, 37.5 % were suffering from anxiety and 42% of them from depression. Anxiety was correlated to the personal history of anxiety (p<10-3), the depression (p<10-3), the fear of contamination (p<10-3), the increased consumption of coffee and tea (p=0.005) and sleep disorders (p<10-3). Meanwhile, depression was associated to a past psychiatric history (p=0.001), a personal experience of psychological violence (p=0.011), increased cannabis use (p=0.011) and a broken sleep (p=0.007).

Our study identified a high prevalence of adverse psychological symptoms experienced by Tunisian citizens during this first wave of virus spread. Mitigating coronavirus effect on mental health is becoming an international public health priority.