Opinion

'Cabin fever': Australia must prepare for the social and psychological impacts of a coronavirus lockdown

By Jennifer Boddy, Amy Young, Patrick O'Leary
Updated March 14 2020 - 6:55am, first published March 13 2020 - 3:13pm
Reports from China suggest isolation has led to neglect of vulnerable people, babies being abandoned, and increased domestic violence, fear and anxiety. Picture: Shutterstock
Reports from China suggest isolation has led to neglect of vulnerable people, babies being abandoned, and increased domestic violence, fear and anxiety. Picture: Shutterstock

As the COVID-19 outbreak intensifies, we're seeing mass isolation in virus epicentres, with about 500 million people in China "under varying degrees of quarantine", and all of Italy in lockdown.