Than a third of the global population confined to their homes the world is going through something unprecedented. Heres Annita Mcveigh with stories of life in lockdown. Hello and welcome to this special programme on the world in lockdown. Im Annita Mcveigh. Coronavirus has now infected more thani Million People worldwide, but its impact extends far beyond those whove had the illness. By the end of march, well over 100 Countries Worldwide had instituted either a full or partial lockdown affecting the lives of billions of us. John owen reports now on the potential medical solutions that might ultimately help bring this to a close. Across the globe once bustling cities are eerily quiet. I must give the british people a very simple instruction you must stay at home. Every decision that were making is made to save lives. Governments have imposed historic restrictions on our freedoms and have brought Economic Activity to a sudden halt. Were talking about a multitrillion dollar effect on the global economy, probably. I dont see lockdown as being a sustainable solution and we have to find a better way. But how and when will be eventually return to some semblance of normality . What we cant do is walk blindly into Large Group Gatherings again injune and july as if this never happened. People need to realise that this virus is going to be with us for a very long time. This is not going to be solved in a matter of weeks in a matter of months. So, with much of the globes Scientific Community focused on solving this problem, what are the medical solutions that might ultimately help bring this crisis to a close . The ideal thing we would have, in a perfect world, would be a vaccine. Vaccines are basically way of giving you a jab into your arm, your body triggers an immune response, which means you develop antibodies, which means when you are finally exposed to the virus you actually dont contract a serious version of it. Unfortunately, most scientists believe that an effective vaccine could be as much as 12 18 months away. Because you cannot, physically, do the weeks and weeks and weeks of consecutive experiments and testing, particularly the safety aspects of the vaccine. You just have to give it time to test the safety and then it has to be efficacious, it has to work. So what looks more realistic in the short time as some kind of antiviral. Three weeks ago schools in britain closed their doors to most children. Many parents began with strict timetables and ambitious targets. But, as reality kicks in, how are they really getting on . Frankie mccamley has while antivirals wont stop people contracting the illness, been finding out. They could help to significantly reduce the number of people who die hello, everybody, this is mrs sock here. Were bored or become seriously ill as a result, want to do some maths, guys . Which might, in turn, no reduce pressure on our health were going crazy this morning ive been called services and help us a doughnut, a loser. To reopen our economies. Tell me a tough time in your life . Whats for tea . Theyre just basically rampaging around the house. Mr edwards has taken and i think theres a lot of hope leave of his senses. This isolation and this there because of the repurposing being done about medications we already have so we dont need to check for safety. I think these drugs could well be the key to ensuring there is no more homeschooling is driving me crazy. Mass isolation lockdown and huge economic losses. But even if breakthroughs are made quickly, the challenge of getting drugs produced and distributed is formidable. So in the meantime many experts believe the solution or at least sound familiar . A big part of it lies in testing. When schools across the uk closed their doors, kitchens became antigen testing to find out the new classrooms. Who currently has the virus and Antibody Testing to find out who has had it in the past. If you think thats incorrect, how do you spell it correctly then . So antigen testing is incredibly parents became the new teachers. Useful because you can stop do you think russell can transmission, if you know who has it draw you a fraction . Or whos carrying the virus then learning from home the new norm. You can make sure they are put ooh, i love fractions into quarantine for two or three weeks. The Antibody Test weve talked a lot for the economic reasons because it could be we have had a lot of people whove been exposed to the virus and actually have developed some are having more a protective capacity, fun than others. Which means we could put them trying to work from home back into the workforce. And home school is, and in conjunction with testing, i would say, nearly impossible. Many people think that deploying im not convinced that were really achieving very much. Technological solutions could help children came home with textbooks us ease the current lockdowns and links to online learning. By automatically alerting people others brought back that theyve been in contact practice papers for exams. With someone whos tested parents, though, are finding each positive for coronavirus, schools approach is different, rather than locking down entire populations. As are the kids. So this is what weve one came back from school seen from singapore, with a complete itinerary south korea, even from china, of what his school day is because theyre using different apps that tell you youre in an area from english, maths, science, minute by minute. Where theres many other people it was fantastic. Who have the virus. And i think in high Income Countries this is much more feasible. But the huge challenges going to be in low Income Countries, the other child tried to convince us which have, you know, large slum populations and how do that they had done four hours you do Something Like that in there . Of pe every day. So i think thats going to be where so its life lessons today. This kind of model will struggle. While many societies remain with holidays cancelled and staycations on the cards, under strict constraints, parents are being more imaginative. It is that we might already be seeing some return to normal life. A field trip. Are you having fun, boys . Wuhan in china, the viruss original. To the garden. A pe lesson. Epicentre, is gradually returning and a music class. To normal and some countries in europe have announced some relaxation of the restrictions, but there are questions over what will follow. The concern is that as society the advice is to do begins to open up and more people what you can and have fun. Come in contact with each other finally, the economic shock waves we will again have transmission, from the coronavirus pandemic are grim, with millions of people and so there is going to be this starting and stopping of opening around the world losing theirjobs. But what will life look things up and then closing them down like after the lockdown is lifted . With varying degrees in different countries. Christian fraser spoke to three so while there is room for optimism that extensive testing, technological innovation, and Antiviral Medicines will help to gradually reduce experts about the impact the restrictions until a vaccine finally arrives, we may need to return for a final return to normality to be some months or years away. The pandemic would have on our Mental Health. John owen, bbc news. Im joined now from vancouver by professor and clinical psychologist steven taylor, who wrote the psychology of pandemics, from bangalore by dr debanja banerjee, a psychiatrist at the National Institute of Mental Health and neurological sciences, these feel like unprecedented times. And finally, from wuhan, and they are. By dr liu lim, a psychotherapist but irina sedunova, a russian to helped establish an online filmmaker in kaliningrad explores support system during lockdown. The unexpected similarities between life at the time 00 06 28,601 2147483051 39 59,015 of coronavirus and her familys 2147483051 39 59,015 4294966103 13 29,430 memories of the soviet era. Steven taylor, if i could maybe staffed with you. The virus is spread or it is contained according to what we do. How strongly we adhere to social distancing guidelines. And so it would seem to me this is as much a psychological phenomenon as a physical one . Very much so. Peoples decisions to adhere to social distancing is critical in managing this pandemic. And the longer the lockdown drags out i would expect the poorer the adherence. But staying indoors for weeks on end with all the anxieties is a real mental battle, even more so if we are facing months of these lockdowns. Exactly. We know that people are generally resilient, but a fraction of people are going to experience severe stressors during this pandemic. In addition to lockdown, people lose jobs, finances, lose houses, businesses go bankrupt, marriages crumble, and so we d expect that a fraction of the population will develop severe mental disorders such as depression or post Traumatic Stress disorder. And even if that was one of people that amounts to many millions of individuals. So the Mental Health fallout could be catastrophic. Dr banerjee, in india there are tens of thousands of Migrant Workers right now who are destitute, theyre facing huge insecurity, theres panic, theres loneliness. All of which takes its toll. What you think the long term effect is going to be on Indian Society . I think the majority of that depends on where it leaves us, finally. What landscape we see after the pandemic goes off. As you have rightly said, there have been huge, millions of people who are homeless, migrant populations, daily wage workers, and they have been stranded, so social distancing does not mean much for them. And you cannot really think about even the precautionary measures of hand hygiene. So i think chronic stress reactions, post Traumatic Stress, bereavement for people who are losing their loved ones and that is going to be very different amongst, different social classes considering we are socio politically and economically quite diverse. I think its going to have a long and chronic tone. Many of these migrant populations and Homeless Individuals already have pre existing mental disorders so probably the next six months to one year will be very crucial for them after the pandemic leaves us. We expect the increase and exacerbation of symptoms like depression, specially offsets of compulsive disorders and Anxiety Disorders in the next six months, and that will be in huge numbers. That is fascinating. Youre not talking about one or two isolated cases, youre talking about a societal impact of this crisis. Its going to have an effect on the thousands of people. Do you think that that Mental Health issue, ptsd, is that well understood in india . It is difficult for me to speak for all over india but, in general, i guess people do not really appreciate or understand the symptoms. So many times it is just considered under the common rubric of depression or anxiety, or sometimes even normalised so its most of the time normalised after grief or after a death. So understanding wellness, what we call kap knowledge, attitude and practice towards a particular syndrome is probably lacking and it is probably our duty, as Mental Health professionals, to be sensitive and identify cases, especially at times of crisis like this. I am fascinated by the work you have been doing in wuhan, where there has been a more oppressive lockdown, even people with the mildest symptoms have been quarantined. So is it is impossible to say what sort of impact that has had on society in wuhan or is that disguised at the moment . Yeah and i think wuhan is the first city to be locked down, so we suffered a lot because at the beginning, we estimate about the gravity about the coronavirus so we suffer more. But the first 20 days, because everyone did not know much about the gravity of this coronavirus, so we had very severe chaotic and very difficult 20 days but the government and everyone. You set up an on line support system for people in wuhan who were people under lockdown. He was calling and what did they tell you . For example, it depends on different groups. For example, medics because they are exhausted, they watched their colleagues impacted and even lose their lives and they watched patients dying before them and struggling to fight with the disease and it is a very hard for them to tolerate that, so some medic stuff rang our hotline and we listened to them and try to make then have the confidence that they are not struggling alone, that all society is supporting them and we try to connect all the protection material and all the outside news to help them, and also the isolated persons and people isolated and try to make then have the confidence that they are not struggling alone, that all society is supporting them and we try to connect all the protection material and all the outside news to help them, and also the isolated persons and people isolated in the home, when they felt helpless and when they felt too much painful to tolerate an anger which reached down. I imagine those are all issues that people need to discuss. This is the first pandemic in the year of social media. Does that help . It is more difficult in china, of course, because there is not free social media but what about the rest of the world . Social media is a two edged sword. It can bring people together and provide support, but then it also exposes people to fake news, to exaggerated risks and so forth. But it perhaps provides us with a tool for reaching out and helping people. My concern is were not prepared for the Mental Health fallout from covid 19. I really like the approach used in wuhan, the Online Support system and we are going to be looking to wuhan to learn how to best manage anxiety and depression and so forth in the western world. Do you think we need to understand that better because, if we have as we suspect we might have, rolling lockdowns, where we have to sort of lock it down again later in the year because there are more cases of the virus, we need to understand how people react to that and whether they will observe the rules that are set down . Absolutely, that is essential. We have research under way trying and understand that an understanding is going to provides us with the information about how we can better help people. Dr banerjee, theres been a lot of stigmatising of different groups through the course of the last few weeks, and that is a Dangerous Development in a country like yours, in india, where there is a caste system and where there is already a tense divide between hindus and muslims . Yeah, stigma itself or any form of marginalisation is itself a disorder, a social lever in any country. Especially as i was mentioning in a country like ours where there are already so many diversions and divisions. People from a particular state orfrom a particular area or even as medical professionals, against doctors because they are now in contact with hospitals, they have seen cases. So there are many people, many of my colleagues have reported that the landlords really want to evict them or neighbours do not come and talk to them because they have a fear of contracting infection. People who are from the border area of india and china, they are stigmatised. If the first outbreak was in kerala so a lot of people who come from that southern part of india, southern most state, so people who have a travel history from there are stigmatised. They are marginalised, especially when billions are isolated india is the Worlds Largest democracy especially when people are isolated, over and above that stigma can really, really cause chaos. Eventually it is not the virus that takes the toll on the Mental Health but it is Public Health, its the chaos and the mayhem that can be caused overburdening of Public Health system. And as rightly said, we need to take lessons from wuhan as to how effectively sensitise people to the need of Mental Health, not just us but also other specialities. Ok, dr banerjee, dr liu and dr steven taylor, very interesting to hear your thoughts on Mental Health. It is an important issue, of course, going forward. Thank you very much to all of you. That is it for now, before we go, here are some of the latest striking images from the last few days as the coronavirus continues to affect so many of us. A reminder that you can always keep up to date on the bbc news website. Thank you for watching. Hello there. Yesterday was a warmer kind of day. Again, plenty of sunshine for most of us, withjust a little bit of high Cloud Crossing the skies. We had some rather dramatic skylines, for example, in the shropshire area. Now, it was the north east of the uk that had the days highest temperatures. Durham and parts of aberdeenshire seeing highs of 21 degrees, but look at this drop in temperatures on the way through thursday. For some, its going to be around 10 or 11 degrees cooler. The cooler weather is arriving with a cold front. Its this stripe of cloud thats sinking its way southwards across scotland right now, leaving the clearest of the skies and the lowest temperatures further south across england and wales, where there could just be a few patches of frost in the countryside. For thursday, well, it gets a little warmer across england and wales, but across the far north of scotland and increasingly into eastern scotland and north east england, weve got the colder air setting its way in. Now, into the afternoon, we may well see a few brighter spells for orkney and shetland, but otherwise, for much of scotland, its a cloudy day. The cloud could be thick enough for an occasional spot of rain. Not amounting to too much, mind you. For most, it will stay just about dry. Its going to feel a lot colder, though. Temperatures 9 to 11 degrees, 11 degrees the high in durham rather than the 21 we had on wednesday. Further southward across england and wales, again, most areas will have lots of dry weather and sunshine. Therell be a little bit more in the way of higher cloud moving in, and, yes, we could seejust a few isolated showers across south west england, southern wales, but even here, the majority will probably stay dry. A little warmer, temperatures into the low 20s more widely. For friday, an area of low pressure thats been affecting spain and portugal wobbles a little bit close to our shores, and it looks increasingly likely that well see some rain arriving. Although the amount of rain you see from place to place across parts of england and wales is going to vary significantly. Still mild, but those temperatures are falling back a little bit. Highs of 17 in london, the cold air in scotland tending to seep down some of these eastern areas of england, knocking the temperatures back in norwich to just 12 degrees. Now, the weekend, scotland stays fine and dry throughout, but it looks like we could see a little bit of patchy rain still left over across parts of england, wales and maybe Northern Ireland on saturday. Sunday, for all of us, looks like the driest day of the weekend. Thats your latest weather. This is bbc news. Welcome if youre watching here in the uk, on pbs in america, or around the globe. My names mike embley. Our top stories President Trump says the us is passing the peak of new coronavirus infections, despite the number of deaths doubling in a week. 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