ObjectiveAlthough the risk of morbidity and mortality of children and adolescents was lower during the COVID-19 pandemic, it appears that their mental health was strongly impacted. The goal of this study is to document psychological dysfunction among children and adolescents who underwent confinement due to COVID-19 in Ecuador.DesignA cross-sectional, internet-based questionnaire.SettingEcuador.ParticipantsA total of 1077 caregivers of children and adolescents (4–16 years old).Outcome measuresCaregivers responded to Pediatric Symptom Checklist-35 to assess psychosocial dysfunction.ResultsThe prevalence of psychosocial dysfunction was 20.8%, with internalising symptoms being the most common (30.7%). The prevalence of psychosocial dysfunction was higher in children who had a poor family relationship during confinement (prevalence ratio (PR) 2.23; 95% CI 1.22 to 4.07), children who never helped with housework (PR 2.63; 95% CI 1.13 to 6.14) and those whose caregivers were worried about children’s need for emotional therapy (PR 2.86; 95% CI 1.97 to 4.15). Never playing video games (PR 0.34; 95% CI 0.17 to 0.69) or playing video games infrequently (PR 0.39; 95% CI 0.20 to 0.79) was a protective factor for the psychosocial problems of children and adolescents.ConclusionOur study demonstrates that children and adolescents have experienced a deterioration of mental health due to the pandemic. Family factors played an important role in the mental health of children during the lockdown. When a public crisis occurs, supportive mental health policies should be developed and implemented to promote children’s psychological welfare.

We modelling the dynamics of the COVID-19 epidemic taking into account the role of the unreported cases. In a first section we extend the model recently introduced/ implemented by Liu, Magal, Seydi and Webb, by considering different transmission rates for the infectious and unreported states, and we couple three new states related to hospitalized and fatalities. In addition, we introduce an operator that incorporates the effects of mitigation measures at the different rates considered in the system. Finally, we implemented the extended model in the Chilean context by considering variable the transmission rates and the fraction of unreported cases, the latter through an argument that uses mortality rates. We conclude with several conclusions and lines of future research.