Covid Zero takes a toll on Shanghaians’ mental health
By Vikram Mukesh
Mental health issue has emerged as one of the major casualty in China’s financial hub Shanghai which has seen lockdown since late March due to resurgence of Covid 19. Innumerable cases of anxiety, depression and mental health disorders have been reported from the town contrary to the government cla im that it has ramped up efforts to tackle the mental health consequences by providing psychological resources to hospitals and residential communities while some self-help lines were also opening longer.
The World Health Report report stated that almost two months of lockdown heavily disrupted work . People were isolated, lives were turned upside down and social circles were faded. Loneliness, fear of infection, suffering and death for oneself and for loved ones, grief after bereavement and financial worries have also all been cited as stressors leading to anxiety and depression . Among hea lth workers, exhaustion has been a major trigger for suicidal thoughts, according to WHO’s scientific report.
Individua l health, social insecurity, isolation, lack of access to livelihood etc are f ertile ground for mental health issues but health ex perts said that the Chinese leadership has miserably to learn from the past ex perience. China was the first one to report coronavirus in two and a half years ago with Wuhan being an epicentre of the virus and yet steps undertaken to deal with mental health and related issues due to longer period of lockdown,were inadequate .
A study published in Lancet Respiratory Medicine journal has made startling revelations about people who suffered through the virus’ first wave. The study underscored the pandemic’s lasting burden and said that two years after being hospitalized with Covid-19, more than half of patients still experience symptoms like fatigue and sleep disruption . The findings clearly pointed out challenge of dealing w ith Covid’s aftermath as millions of people — some of them children and teens — grapple with lingering symptoms that affect everything from mental health to their ability to work and contribute to the economy.The study, led by doctors at the China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing, came even as China doubled down on its stringent Covid Zero strategy while much of the world lifts restrictions and attempts to live with the virus .
Health experts squarely blamed the Chinese leadership for having failed to understand the ill effects of lockdown on the mental health. They said that people of Shanghai were literally living in a mental asylum as they were not allowed to step out to buy essential items, or mourn when deaths were reportea 1n family or neighbourhood or people who raised their voice, were punished . It happened because China is a dictatorial society wherein the Chinese leadership think that they know everything and do not accept technical expertise and technical aspects globally from elsewhere in the world, commented health experts.
Others said that China is a media shutdown society where media is not allowed to report on wrongdoings without the approval from the Xi government. The Chinese leadership is least bothered about people and their sufferings . Xi Jinping and his government are more concerned about international market a rd global reputation of China ‘brand’ . Human rights of people including mental health are not on the priority of the Chinese leadership. Reports of Beijing carrying out “genocide” against the Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim, Tur kic-speaking people speak volume about the mindset of the Chinese leadership and its attitude towards people and their rights.
” Covid is like a icing on the cake “, commented a senior UN official who is a technical expert on health issues. Hecriticised Beijing’s Covid zero policy stating that it cannot be implemented under the public health lens.” Human beings can control many things but they can’t pass an order against pathogen”, he sa id and added that China should learn to live with a virus rather jeopardise lives of people by imposing zero covid policy in the country . Long term lockdowns are bound to raise more mental health issues in China.
Meanwhile, media reports from China continued to highlight steps undertaken to deal with mental health cases. Though there is no data on mental health cases available but media reports claimed that Mental health support and counselling services were still sought-after in the city despite more locals were gradually coming out from the lockdown.
Chinese search engine Baidu had recorded in late April a huge spike in searches f or “psychological counselling” and related search over the past 30 days increased by 253 percent year -on-year, a wake-up call to step up mental health services and support .
