The coronavirus pandemic “has the seeds of a major mental health crisis,” the United Nations (UN) warned in a policy briefing this week, calling for substantial investment in support services.

Devora Kestel, director of the Department of Mental Health and Substance Use at the World Health Organization (WHO — a UN agency), said the isolation, fear, uncertainty and economic turmoil surrounding the pandemic could all cause “psychological distress.”

She added that “the mental health and wellbeing of whole societies have been severely impacted by this crisis and are a priority to be addressed urgently.”

Kestel was presenting a UN report, issued Thursday, which highlighted that certain people, including frontline health-care workers, the elderly, those with pre-existing health conditions, women and children were showing “high degrees of Covid-19-related psychological distress.”

The…