The Impact of COVID-19 on the Dietary Habits of Middle-Class Population in Mulund, Mumbai, India

Abstract

In India, the SARS-CoV-2 COVID-19 pandemic has grown to 112,359 cases and 3,435 deaths as per 21^st May, 2020. The severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) affected the world with 4,893,186 cases and 323,256 deaths as of 21^st May, 2020. The WHO declared the outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern on 30^th January, 2020 and it was declared as a pandemic in March 2020. Clinical studies conducted on hospitalized cases show that the onset of COVID-19 is associated with symptoms commonly associated with viral pneumonia, most commonly fever, cough/sore throat and myalgia/fatigue. COVID-19 world pandemic imposed a new set of challenges for the individual to maintain a healthy diet. When compared to the USA, India is currently facing lesser cases of the pandemic because of early implementation of the preventive measures such as a lockdown. Because of the lockdown imposed, India has and is facing a downfall in every aspect, such as the economy, the agriculture, the health sector, the IT and management sectors and also tourism. This in turn, will have a negative impact on the quality of life and economy in India. The present paper aims to find out the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the health sector and is based on the results obtained from a survey about the eating patterns of participants from Mulund, Mumbai, India. It was seen that the mental stress caused due to the pandemic had an effect on the dietary behaviors of the participants.