OBJECTIVES: To assess the psychological impact of COVID-19 lockdown among healthy individuals in India.

METHODS: A self-assessed cross-sectional web-based study was conducted between 3^rd April and 4^th May 2020. Centre for Epidemiological Study for Depression questionnaire was administered for assessing the depressive symptoms among general public during the COVID-19 lockdown. Using the google forms the questionnaire was circulated among the public through social media. Descriptive analysis was performed to represent the study characteristics, Chi-square test for assessing the associations of depressive symptoms among the study variables, and the logistic regression analysis for identifying the factors influencing the depressive symptoms.

RESULTS: A total of 588 participants with a mean (SD) age of 27.59 (8.72) years were responded to the questionnaire. The prevalence depressive symptoms were higher among males (54%) compared to females (36%). It was identified that the participants with educational background of pre-university education/diploma (58.22%) and middle school (71.42%), and occupation as semiskilled (60%) and unskilled workers (70%), social history of consumption alcohol (56.52%) and smoking (75%), and belong to joint family (53.10%) were the predictors for depressive symptoms. Subgroup analysis identified that these factors influence depressive symptoms especially among male population.

CONCLUSIONS: It is an alarming situation that the depressive symptoms found in approximately 45% of healthy individuals during the COVID-19 lockdown. Educational interventions by the government and non-government organizations are very much required to combat the progression of depressive symptoms into disorder.