Eating Disorders during Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19): A Letter to the Editor

From December 2019, the outbreak of coronavirus 2019 in Wuhan, China, began and quickly attracted the attention and concern of the World Health Organization. COVID-19 disease is one of the new cases of coronavirus that is closely related to SARS coronavirus and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS-CoV). However, the rate of human-to-human transmission of the COVID-19 virus is much faster than the previous two types of coronavirus. As a result, governments have enacted several restrictions aimed at preventing the COVID-19 virus as much as possible, most of which are aimed at self-quarantining and maintaining social distance. These conditions have had many negative consequences for people around the world, but one of the groups affected is those with eating disorders. Prolonged stay at home, lack of access to treatment, as well as anxiety and stress associated with the unknown disease Coronavirus 2019 have led to numerous psychological and physical problems for people with eating disorders. Also, as access to health care has declined during the COVID-19 virus epidemic, health officials need to pay more attention to these patients.