“Unless the Covid-related stress and anxiety are treated this will have a negative effect on the economy,” social psychologist Ivan Ivanov said for the Bulgarian news agency BTA.

“More and more people are going need to a cure for their emotional suffering caused by the coronavirus and the restrictions imposed,” he says, and adds that it is very important what kind of messages the political leaders are conveying. In his words good leaders provide accurate and timely information, allow local authorities to assume part of the responsivity for addressing the crisis, take care of the most vulnerable groups – doctors, police, social workers.

“As we pass through the epidemic it is important to create an organization for psychological survival because the economy is, to a great extent, the function of people healthy in every respect,” Ivan Ivanov says.