In 1937, coronaviruses were first described as an infectious bronchitis virus suffered by birds that could devastate poultry stocks. Viruses are now the source of the common cold in 15% to 30% of all cases. In the past 70 years, researchers have discovered camels, goats, cats, dogs, horses, rabbits, pigs, rats and turkeys infected with coronaviruses.
A novel coronavirus strain—SARS-CoV-2—was first identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, a town in China’s Hubei province with 11 million, following a pneumonia outbreak without an exact cause. The virus has spread over 200 countries and territories across the world and was identified on 11 March 2020 by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a pandemic.
As of 4 January 2021, there were 83,322,449 laboratory-confirmed cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) worldwide, with 1,831,412 recorded deaths. On 16 March 2020, the number of cases and fatalities outside of China exceeded those in the region.
To date, more than three million people worldwide have been infected with COVID-19, more than two hundred thousand have died, and millions have been financially and emotionally affected. Our frontline employees are charged with continuing to work to fulfill our public health and safety needs. During this ongoing pandemic, frontline staff and health workers struggle to take care of their patients and the general population while still dealing with their physical fatigue, tension, worry and anxiety.
In the context of the global catastrophe triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, we are mindful that the first line of protection against this pandemic is health professionals. Unfortunately, due to the shortage of biosafety devices, shortages of infection management services, lack of appreciation schemes and job benefits, and eventually physical and psychological violence and prejudice by patients, which affects their mental well-being, they confront this health emergency with inadequate working conditions. There are well-known job background stressors that can be recognised as psychosocial labour influences. Because of insufficient knowledge regarding the infection, the continuous treatment of patients with COVID 19, heavy workload, frequent vulnerability to crucial incidents such as mortality, apprehension of becoming contaminated and infecting their family and the impact for their wellbeing, its symptoms could be reflected as fatigue, depression, anxiety. Therefore, in a community without mental disorders, reports have confirmed the prevalence of psychological signs, such as depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress and regression of those who have a mental disease.
Suppose without providing the basic requirements to monitor, reduce and cope with extreme. Even permanent pandemic effects, COVID-19, bring health workers vulnerability to be physical, biological, and psychological hazards. In that case, it may be regarded as an occupational disorder because of the manifestations of occupational danger and its psychological consequences.
The severe psychosocial consequences of this pandemic on health workers are apparent, and they are specifically related to working environments. Therefore, if their working environments are inadequate, they will place the wellbeing of their families at risk and, as a consequence, the impact on their mental health will be exacerbated. It is essential to consider that several findings have shown that preparation in biosafety systems, the proper execution of infection prevention protocols, as well as personal protective equipment and acknowledgment of their efforts
Research centered on identifying preventive factors that will assist health workers’ efficiency and facilitate their adaptation, considering the intense physical and emotional need for their services in periods of crisis. However, this tolerance and resistance potential is attributed to the security and help offered by providing appropriate working environments, with a decline in psychosocial risk factors.
As a result, it is significant to remain mindful of the unique concerns of healthcare personnel and to incorporate crisis-focused and post-trauma treatment psychological recovery programs, as well as to make administrative and operational improvements and provide a coordinated and quality health system, maintaining its continuity and response capability despite the crisis.
