This Sunday, we bring you Dr. Shailesh Jha's article on COVID-19 and how the pandemic has impacted the mental health of the frontline warriors fighting it. He also discusses steps that doctors can take to ensure mental wellness during these rough times.

For our comprehensive coverage and latest updates on COVID-19 click here.

COVID-19 pandemic

Let us rewind and go back to the first time we got to know about COVID 19. The initial response was nothing more than denial. Later, the rising COVID-19 cases and associated deaths made all of us realise its true impact. Moreover, the level of preparedness and unavailability of resources left the whole world bewildered and guessing.

Since December 2019 in the Hubei province of China, within a span of three months, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus was considered a public health emergency by the World Health Organization and was declared a pandemic by March 2020. Till date, more than 345,000 people have died from COVID-19, while around 5.4 million infections have been confirmed in at least 188 countries and territories. More than 2 million people have recovered so far.