China: Various hotlines spring up as Coronavirus fears take toll on public's mental health

Several 24-hour mental health support telephone hotlines have reportedly been launched in China in recent weeks as millions are worried about contracting  dely vel Coronavirus - w officially named COVID-19 by WHO. Medical professionals have reportedly welcomed launch of  hotline services as mental health remains a taboo subject. However, y've also cautioned Chinese public that ufficial talk lines could do more harm than good.

National Health Commission of China told media that more than 300 hotlines have launched to provide mental health support related to coronavirus in collaboration with university psychology departments, counselling services, and NGOs. y said that a volunteer group of over 400 rapists called 'Yong Xin Kang Yi', translating to 'Use Heart to Fight Virus', focuses on providing mental assistance to overworked medical staff in Wuhan, epicentre of virus.

Cui Erjing, a Seattle-based volunteer for one of hotlines, who is originally from China's sourn Guangdong province told media that re were a lot of hotlines out re staffed by a lot of volunteers but it just did t make sense because re aren’t many people that can be trained professionally. He ded that it can be traumatising sometimes to seek assistance or support but t get right responses at right time.

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Strategy following 2008 Sichuan earthquake

hotlines are reportedly a part of government's initiative as a first-level response for dealing with increasing psychological impact of health emergencies like Coronavirus. According to reports, a similar strategy that was first deployed following 2008 Sichuan earthquake, a disaster in which 87,150 people were killed or were listed as missing.

Xu Wang, a psychorapist at Tsinghua University, who is a part of official Beijing city hotline team, said to reporters that major challenge in project was working out which callers showed real symptoms of virus and which were inste suffering from anxiety.

hashtag 'how to deal with feeling very anxious at home' has been trending across all social media platforms in China including Weibo and has garnered more than 170 million views amid accelerating misinformation about Coronavirus and quarantine of millions of citizens within country.

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(With ncy Inputs)