| PERSPECTIVE/VIEWPOINT - COUNTRY/REGIONAL |
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| Year : 2020 | Volume
: 2
| Issue : 2 | Page : 100-102 |
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COVID-19 Pandemic and Australia: “The Lucky Country”
Kevin Kendrick1, Mohan Isaac2
1 Department of Psychiatry, Fremantle Hospital, Fremantle, Australia
2 Division of Psychiatry, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
Correspondence Address:
Mohan Isaac
Level 6, W Block, Fremantle Hospital, 1 Alma Street, Fremantle 6160, Western Australia
Australia
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None
DOI: 10.4103/WSP.WSP_28_20
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Australia has indeed come through the first-wave COVID lightly. The strain on Australian society is more from the secondary effects of adaptation to contain the outbreak than from the outbreak itself. On a societal level, Australia has several factors that have contributed to the comparative mildness of the impacts of the lockdown. Tertiary psychiatric service demands appear to have been well met, although there appears to have been an increase in required support in other areas. The mental health burden of COVID is unlikely to be spread proportionately across the population, with variations based on the rural location, ethnicity, age, and indigenous status. Beyond the acute phase of the pandemic significant challenges loom. One can expect severe economic repercussions, including a spike in unemployment and a concomitant rise in anxiety and depression as other social determinants worsen.
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