The COVID-19 Pandemic: A Pandemic of Lockdown Loneliness and the Role of Digital Technology

Syed Ghulam Sarwar Shah   ^{1, 2} , MBBS, MA, MSc, PhD ;   David Nogueras   ³ , MBA ;   Hugo Cornelis van Woerden   ^{4, 5, 6} , MBChB, MPH, FFPH, MRCGP, PhD ;   Vasiliki Kiparoglou   ^{1, 7} , BSc, MSc, MBA, PhD

¹ NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, United Kingdom

² Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom

³ EvZein Limited, Oxford, United Kingdom

⁴ Public Health Agency Northern Ireland, Belfast, United Kingdom

⁵ Division of Rural Health and Wellbeing, University of the Highlands and Islands, Inverness, United Kingdom

⁶ Institute of Nursing and Health Research, Ulster University, Belfast, United Kingdom

⁷ Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom