The situation of COVID-19 was very abstruse for everyone. It was full of chaos and confusion as the illness was known, but how to deal with it, what to do at such a time, and how to prevent it was still not cognizant. And the worst among all of this was the fact that no cure or vaccine could halt the spread of the entire thing. Out of the hurriedness to stop the virus from spreading any further, the government set a lockdown for a few days to see if the situation could be managed anyhow. The number of cases could not be controlled, but the idea of people staying at home was a preventive step taken by the government. Three days before the lockdown took place there was utter confusion and disarray in the minds of people. Everything in supermarkets, grocery stores and ration shops went out of stock since people had learned that this virus is something serious and the government will be taking a huge step to command the situation.
The lockdown had first started on 24th March 2020. This was a complete lockdown, where the whole nation was shut, and this meant that every single thing was closed, including schools, colleges, shops, malls, movie theatres, offices, airlines, railways etc. It was by the order of our Prime Minister that everything stays shut till further notice. At this time, only essential services like medical shops, grocery suppliers and hospitals were open. Little did everyone know that this had no end to it. The lockdown kept increasing and then there was lockdown 2.0 and lockdown 3.0 and so on. All services were dismissed especially that of maids and other household help. Everyone had to survive on the basics or on what they already had with themselves.
During the lockdown, there were ways that people would pass their time- there were many online trends like making dalgona coffee, trying different recipes of food, playing ludo etc. along with many online challenges like workout challenge, pass the brush challenge on Tiktok and Instagram where people would pass their makeup brushes and it would be edited in a way that would make it look like they are passing it on to other people, and get dressed up etc. Many people learned how to cook, draw, paint, bake, dance, and sing and some of them took this as an opportunity to learn new things and polish their existing skills. The Internet has become a dependable, well-founded source of filling time since we are aware of how vast the virtual world is.
Several people could not perceive this situation or claim the lockdown to be beneficial for them or their mental health. Instead, it was more contradictory for them. They faced isolation because there were people who were stuck away from their houses and could not go back home. After all, there were no transport services or any other way that could take them back. Some were stuck with families who had a history of physical and/or mental abuse. Some were facing a loss of income and loss of jobs and work, which made it extremely challenging for their survival as there was a point when they could not even afford the basics anymore as there was no active source of income. Many companies and brands were running out of business and therefore had to shut down permanently, leaving lakhs and thousands of people unemployed. Fear and fright of things going wrong, stress and overthinking were a few things triggering mental health conditions or aggravating existing ones at this time. This made many people face increased levels of alcohol and drug use, insomnia, panic and anxiety. There are some rudiments related to the pandemic that affected the population more, such as separation from loved ones, loss of freedom, uncertainty about the advancement of the disease, and feelings of helplessness and paranoia.
This also increased the chances of suicide and increased the number of people dialling suicide helpline numbers and seeking help. There was a 67.7% increase in online news media reports of suicidal behaviour since lockdown. there were 369 cases of suicides and attempted suicides during the COVID-19 lockdown compared to 220 reported suicides in 2019. The suicides that occurred during the lockdown were by significantly older individuals, who were more likely to be between the ages of 31-50 years. A larger number of suicides by men were also reported during the lockdown, more likely to be by those married and employed. Bihar was said to have shown the highest increase, 7 times, in news reports of suicide during the lockdown as compared to the previous year.
There have been 243 suicide cases in Bhopal, since the beginning of the pandemic, while the number of deaths due to covid was 310. There were 58 cases of suicide in the first 70 days of lockdown, which rose to 186 till it touched 100 days. Most of these cases were of people in the age group 15-40, out of which 75% of them did not even leave behind a suicide note.
Several international organizations took into account the global rise in Domestic Violence cases which stemmed from physical distancing regulations and their subsequent lockdowns. Many countries reported a 15-30% hike in the number of distress calls received from women who were confined in closed spaces with abusive partners. Research has shown a direct link between times of crisis, like lockdown and relational violence. Pandemics like this provide for a permitting environment of fear and uncertainty that may intensify diverse forms of violence against women. Moreover, economic insecurity, financial instability, and isolation are also some of the factors that contribute to making domestic violence even more prevalent. A similar kind of study was done on child abuse and surprisingly the results were the same, except they could never be reported or there was no number to call. Some of the kids were too juvenile to even comprehend the situation and therefore did not know how to act upon it. Unfortunately, such domestic cases went underreported across the world, especially in times of global emergencies like COVID-19 since there was a sense of helplessness in everyone.
The complaints received during the months of lockdown in evaluated to even the initial months of 2020. The complaints received in January were 538, February were 523, March were 501 and April were 377. However, in the steady relaxation of the lockdown, there was a succeeding surge in complaints. While 552 complaints were recorded in May, June had over 730 complaints.
In Bhopal, during the initial months of lockdown- March to May, there were about 8-10 registered cases of domestic violence, where the cruelty to women was by her husband or a relative of her husband and 115 cases of abuse and assault were registered. This took a very intense rise from June to September where there were 126 cases reported to different police stations for domestic violence and 384 cases of abuse and assault.
The psychological impact of fear and anxiety encouraged by the rapid spread of the pandemic needs to be recognized as a public health priority for the authorities who should adopt clear behavioural strategies to reduce the burden of disease and the dramatic mental health consequences of this outbreak especially for intense cases like that of domestic violence and suicide.
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