Editorial: Making Pandemic Controls More Targeted Can Help Tackle Mental Health Problems

For nearly three years, the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic has endangered people’s lives and posed challenges to their mental health. During the pandemic, 70 million additional patients with depressive disorders were recorded worldwide, along with another 90 million sufferers of anxiety disorders, and a doubling in the number of insomniacs, Chinese Academy of Sciences academic Lu Lin told us. In China, nearly one-third of residents isolating at home have displayed symptoms of depression, anxiety or insomnia. While most recovered after their isolation, over one-tenth of respondents did not. While China has achieved remarkable results through adoption of effective measures, we should now face up to all of the “invisible” damage the pandemic has delivered. Scientific, precise pandemic control should be urgently prioritized, and one-size-fits-all approaches and excessive escalation of policy steps strictly prohibited.