The dire effects of Italy’s coronavirus lockdown

Locking down Britain sooner would have saved thousands of lives, according to Neil Ferguson. But while Ferguson’s claims have been rightly contested – and the merits of shutting down Britain, particularly in view of today’s woeful GDP figures – remain debatable, one thing is very clear: lockdown is having a dreadful effect on the lives of many.

A survey from Italy, which went into lockdown a few weeks before Britain, shows why. 20,000 people were quizzed by researchers at the Mario Negri Institute in Milan on the psychological consequences of forcing people to quarantine themselves. And the findings – almost certainly replicable in Britain – make for grim reading.

Over half of the respondents reported some negative psychological effects; one in twenty reported a severe impact. When the Negri researchers enquired about the type of problems experienced, one in ten said they had had moderate to severe depressive symptoms, six per cent moderate to severe anxiety symptoms and four per cent moderate to severe physical symptoms.