**6. Women's psychological abuse: emotional/physical abuses during COVID-19 lockdown safety protocol**

Unanimously, all the reviewed articles affirmed that the COVID-19 safety protocol of restricted movement/lockdown worsen women's experience of GBV [12, 14, 27–32]. The argument is that COVID-19 pandemic and its associated safety protocol forced men and women to stay at home for longer period of time. In this context, the reality is that women who experienced violence of any kind could not even leave the house and/ or seek support from others. One research narrative review based on exploring the impact of COVID-19 on South African women's experience of GBV stated that, at the start of the lockdown in March 2020, 87,000 cases of GBV and interpersonal violence were reported, reflecting a significant increase compared to pre-COVID-19 space [28]. Although the authors emphasized that the reports did not indicate what type of interpersonal relationships or who the perpetrators were, they argued that men are often noted as the aggressors. They backed up their argument with South African President Ramaphosa's concern during one of the COVID-19 progress report regarding seriousness of GBV and femicide, and his statement that at every three hours, a woman loses her life due to GBV in the country [28]. If a woman loses her life every three hours, such happening is horrendous and a pointer to the fact that COVID-19 has indeed

facilitated heightened GBV experience for women, which no doubt impacts on their mental health and well-being. Another research finding focusing on Nigerian women's experience of GBV during the COVID-19 pandemic reechoed the same increased reality of violence, reaffirming emotional and physical abuses [12]. In this perspective, the report reflected cases of how women have been threatened by their partners to be banished from the house and/or ostracized by their children. Such threats are sources of emotional torture for some of the women [12]. Another corroborating research finding confirms that women/girls in Nigeria were emotional tortured in the face of national lockdown, and the report clearly indicated that women/girls who were abused could not seek for help/support from others [31]. Certainly, it was in this context that some researchers have described the home as no longer a safe place to be [12]. In addition, a research report from Tunis also presents similar findings, indicating that women experience emotional torture during COVID-19 pandemic [14], which they describe as having psychological impact. In fact, the researchers claimed that 78% of cases recorded during the lockdown were *de novo*, meaning that these women were assaulted for the first time [14]. Hence, the researchers expressed that in Tunisia, the Ministry of Women, Family and Childhood reported that GBV during the COVID-19 pandemic rose sevenfold. These narratives were indicative of the daunting GBV experiences women across African nations have encountered, and implications will reflect on their state of mental health.
