Many of us are losing sleep these days—bombarded with news and information about the new coronavirus outbreak. People are feeling anxious, afraid, and alone. Raimund, a psychologist working for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Hong Kong, offers some simple tips for how we can cope with the stress during this pandemic.

He explains the biological basis behind our collective panic and suggests taking breaks to avoid information overload. He also points out that while our survival instinct might push us to be more selfish, we can only get through this crisis by looking out for each other: “It’s not only about protecting yourself…. It’s also about taking care of other people.”

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international, independent, medical humanitarian organisation that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural disasters and exclusion from healthcare.