Objective COVID-19 epidemic can be associated with a variety of anxious responses and safety behaviors. The present research explored the psychological implications associated with COVID-19 during the outbreak in 2020 to date. Pakistani media has given particular attention to this outbreak in the region.Methods Three hundred and forty-seven undergraduate university students from Pakistan completed a battery of questionnaires focusing fear of COVID-19, associated safety behaviors, factual knowledge of COVID-19, and other psychological pointers hypothesized to be as predictors of anxious responses to COVID-19 threat and associated safety behaviors.Results The sample appeared to be fearful of COVID-19 and this fear was related to disgust sensitivity, anxiety sensitivity-related physical concerns, body vigilance, contamination cognitions, and general distress. Results suggested that the tendency of overestimating the severity of contamination and anxiety sensitivity towards physical concerns are significant predictors of COVID-19 related fear and consequent safety behaviors.Conclusion It is suggested that people with a greater concern of contamination are likely to respond fearfully to COVID-19 and that people with higher fear of COVID-19 are likely to feel contamination concerns.

Purpose: Leading a normal life and managing daily psychological or physical stress is hard for everybody but when a person is diagnosed with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) during a widespread pandemic, the battle is inescapable. This research aimed to explore some positive dimensions that can lessen the adversities of these women. Design and Methods: We assessed all 200 cases of GDM who were registered in the maternity wards of the government and private hospitals of South Punjab, Pakistan. Respondents were diagnosed with GDM during the first wave of COVID-19. Post-traumatic growth (PTG) inventory, Family environment scale, and Partner supportive communication (PSC) scale were used. SEM and moderation analysis was conducted to test the hypothesized relationship among the variables. Results: Result showed that elicitation of thoughts and feelings (β = 0.109, t-value = 3.501, p = 0.001), effective listening (β = − 0.144, t-value = 1.928, p = 0.054), and communication towards partner (β = − 0.209, t-value = 4.850, p = 0.005) significantly moderated the relationship between family environment and post traumatic growth. Practical Implications: This research is beneficial for health practitioners because the trauma of being diagnosed with such a disease can be alleviated by the role of family environment and PSC.

COVID -19 epidemic can be associated with variety of anxious responses and safety behaviors. Present research explored the psychological implications associated with covid-19 during the outbreak in 2020 till date. Pakistani media has given particular attention to this outbreak in the region. Three hundred and forty-seven undergraduate university students from Pakistan completeda battery of questionnaires focusing fear of Covid -19, associated safety behaviors, factual knowledge of covid-19and other psychological pointers hypothesized to be as predictors of anxious responses to covid-19 threat. The sample appeared to be fearful of covid-19 and this fear was related to disgust sensitivity, anxiety sensitivity-related physical concerns, body vigilance, contamination cognitions and general distress. Results suggested that tendency of overestimating severity of contamination and anxiety sensitivity towards physical concerns are significant predictors of Covid-19 related fear and consequent safety behaviors. Implications are discussed in the light of managing and conceptualizing clinical symptoms related to serious epidemic.Keywords: COVID-19; Health anxiety; Safety Behaviors; Pakistan