COVID-19 disease, the infection of novel coronavirus, is a severe pneumonia pandemic. In addition to the mortality and medical consequences of patients with coronavirus infection, the COVID-19 pandemic also caused mental and psychological problems on the general population, patients, and related workers [
1‐
3]. Under this circumstance, medical professionals and government have raised significant concerns to the mental and psychological problems of the impacted persons [
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3].
A large number of studies have shown that general population experienced a high level of stress and significant mental and psychological problems under the COVID-19 epidemic [
4]. Especially those who were female, experienced negative affect, were detached, had an acquaintance infected with COVID-19, had a history of stressful situations and medical problems, showed higher levels of depression and anxiety [
5]. In addition, a prospective study found that the general population still experienced a high level of stress, anxiety and depression after the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which suggested that the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the mental and psychological health of the general population might be long-lasting [
6]. Otherwise, The COVID-19 patients experienced lots of mental and psychological problems, even were diagnosed with mental disorders during the whole course of COVID-19 [
7]. COVID-19 might cause delirium in a significant proportion of patients in the acute stage [
8]. The hospitalized patients with COVID-19 infection also experienced symptoms of depression, anxiety, insomnia and/or distress [
7]. Even post-illness patients with COVID-19 infections have a higher risk of mental disorder and psychological problems [
9]. Need to be noticed, there are psychological symptoms and sleep symptoms in front-line healthcare workers who participate in the fight against COVID-19 [
10]. According to recent systematic review and meta-analysis, at least one in five healthcare professionals report symptoms of depression and anxiety; almost four in ten healthcare workers experience sleeping difficulties and/or insomnia. Especially, rates of anxiety and depression were higher for female healthcare workers and nursing staff, and milder mood symptoms and sub-threshold are common among healthcare workers during COVID-19 pandemic [
11]. In addition, Compared with non-medical health workers, medical health workers had a higher prevalence of insomnia, anxiety, depression, somatization, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms [
12]. Above all, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the prevalence of mental and psychological problems/disorders have increased among general population, patients, and healthcare workers, who being in allostatic overload were exposed to a protracted source of distress [
13]. The population experienced long and continuous quarantine or isolation might be in allostatic overload status which is likely to cause more psychological distress with protracted time. Based on that
, medical professionals and government had raised their significant concerns to mental health problems among those under quarantine.
The COVID-19 pandemic requires social distancing, quarantine and isolation, which may cause a high burden of mental and psychological problems in people without mental illness or aggravate existing conditions, especially those under quarantine [
7,
14]. A recent systematic umbrella review found that patients, informal caregiver, and healthcare providers who experienced quarantine or isolation had a high burden of mental health problems, including depression, anxiety, and insomnia [
15]. However, most of the included studies conducted in high-income nations and in hospital settings, then individuals and populations who have undergone quarantine and isolation were in different context [
15]. In addition, based on whether they or their families /colleagues /classmates /neighbors had been quarantined, the prevalence of anxiety and depression of the affected group are higher than in the unaffected group during the COVID-19 outbreak [
16].
As far as we know, there is no case-control study on the mental and psychological problems of population in quarantine and general population during COVID-19 pandemic, which highlighted the immediate impact of the isolated environment. According to recent findings focused on general population under quarantine or isolation, we hypothesized that population in quarantine had a high level of depression, anxiety, and insomnia symptoms when compared with those general population. We aimed to determine the impact of mental and psychological symptoms among population in quarantine for 2 weeks during COVID-19 pandemic by using self-reported questionnaires. These findings will identify population in quarantine for their mental and psychological symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic and may help in implementing mental health intervention policies among those under quarantine or isolation in other countries and regions.