a.**The Variant being monitored (VBM):**

	- i.**Delta (B.1.617.2 and AY lineages)**: The Delta variant of COVID-19 is highly contagious and still dominant worldwide. It has been labeled a variant of concern by WHO because of its increased transmissibility and increased ability to cause a severe form of the disease. The greatest risk of transmission is among unvaccinated people. People who are fully vaccinated can get vaccine breakthrough infections and spread the virus to others
	- ii.**Omicron (B.1.1.529 and BA lineages)**: The eCDC classified a SARS-CoV-2 variant belonging to Pango lineage B.1.1.529 as a variant of concern (VOC) on 26 November 2021, due to concerns regarding immune escape and its potentially increased transmissibility. The WHO also classified this variant as a VOC and assigned it the label Omicron. As of 16 December 2021,



*A Scoping Analysis of the Psychosocial and Health Implications of COVID-19… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.104546*

> overall, there were 15,778 confirmed cases of Omicron VOC (an increase of 13,608 cases since the last report on 9 December 2021) reported globally by 85 countries. The number of countries reporting cases with the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron VOC continues to increase globally. Africa has detected 8,982,687 cases; the five countries reporting the most cases are South Africa (3167497), Morocco (951482), Tunisia (719662), Libya (378105), and Ethiopia (373115). Africa has had 224,869 deaths with most deaths occurring in the following five countries—South Africa (90137), Tunisia (25437), Egypt (21060), Morocco (14796), and Ethiopia (6829).

### d.**The variant of high consequence (VOHC)n:** Currently, no SARS-CoV-2 variants are designated as VOHC

All variants of COVID-19 can cause severe disease or death. While data on these complications may be available in the global north and south, there is a paucity of literature in most African States.

#### **1.3 Rationale**

The upsurge of Coronavirus as a global pandemic and its attendant gender-related socio-economic problems have sparked up depression, sadism, suicidal ideation, and all manner of psychiatric ailments across the globe. The pandemic that claims millions of lives both recorded and unrecorded deaths created a new wave of mental ill-health and vicarious trauma even for clinicians attending to COVID-19 patients.

The prevalence of these illnesses and traumatic experiences among clinicians and significant persons attending to the sick or those who have lost loved ones to the pandemic is yet to be determined. The policy strategies deployed for containing the spread of the pandemic increased unemployment, financial insecurity, and poverty. It also had grave impacts on mental health by increasing social isolation and loneliness that have been strongly associated with anxiety, depression, selfharm, suicide attempts, and emotional problems across the lifespan. The effect of social (or physical) distancing measures affects mental health within a syndemics approach through interacting socio-demographic forces (eg, aging, rising inequality) and health conditions (eg, chronic diseases and obesity) that yield resultant comorbidities.

More so, the World Health Organization in its new Mental Health Atlas report identified the growing need for mental health support and a worldwide failure to provide people with the mental health services needed during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a policy brief on COVID-19, the United Nations also mandated the need to provide high-quality data on the psychological impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic [8].

#### **1.4 Purpose of study**

The purpose of this study is to examine the psychosocial and health implications of COVID-19 Comorbidity-Related Complications among selected vulnerable groups in the African States, identify which sub-groups are most vulnerable to psychological distress, identify the risk and protective factors associated with this population's mental health, and to highlight recent developments in counseling and therapeutic options.
