COVID-19 Pandemic: A Review of the First Publications

The  COVID-19  pandemic  has  put  humanity  in  conditions  of  an  enormous  global  experiment  which would have been impossible to conduct in a laboratory. Humanity as a whole and each person individually have found themselves in a situation of uncertainty concerning the level of threat, its duration, ways 
to deal with it (i.e., protection, prevention and treatment), prospects etc. The whole world has been following the situation with the pandemic intently since the very outbreak while trying to estimate the risks of the infection and the spread of the virus. The said situation has also awoken unprecedented interest in the  scientific  community.  Virologists,  biologists,  physicians,  sociologists,  psychologists,  economists, philosophers were in the extensive list of specialists who presented the research findings on different aspects of the pandemic during its first months. 
The goal of this review is to consider the main topical areas of the publications in order to identify the most important problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the possible strategies and ways to solve these problems. 
It is shown that the first reactions to the threat (namely, an increase in the level of anxiety, stress reactions, depressive states, and a decrease in the level of subjective well-being) are connected with the uncertainty of the situation and the lack of guidance on developing relevant behavioral strategies. 
The data on the influence of quarantine measures on the psychological state of affected people are presented. The role of the media, the responsibility and possible strategies of the authorities are shown. 
The state and reactions to the pandemic of the most vulnerable groups of the population are analyzed. 
The guidelines for effective measures of the authorities in the current situation are indicated. Possible strategies and resources for the most effective solution of the problems that have arisen or have manifested themselves during the pandemic are identified.