A study has suggested women and young people have been hardest hit psychologically by the lockdown, as MPs were told the world will be living with Covid-19 for "decades to come".
A new study found 27% of people in the UK were experiencing clinically significant levels of psychological distress in April, compared with 19% before the pandemic.
A General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) assessing the severity of a mental health problem over the previous few weeks also showed increasing distress across the population in April.
The 12 questions included how often people experienced symptoms such as difficulties sleeping or concentrating, problems with decision-making or feeling overwhelmed.
Increases were bigger in some groups compared to others - with a 33% rise among women, 32% among parents with children under five and 37% among young people aged 18 to 24, the study published in The Lancet Psychiatry found.
Sally McManus, joint senior author of the study from City University, said: "The pandemic has brought people's differing life circumstances into stark contrast.
"We found that, overall, pre-existing inequalities in mental health for women and young people have widened.
"At the same time, new inequalities have emerged, such as for those living with pre-school children."
Data from the Office of National Statistics on homeschooling during the Covid-19 pandemic is due to be released on Wednesday.
Research on how parents in Great Britain have managed working from home in addition to their parenting responsibilities is also set to be released by the agency.
Wellcome Trust director and Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) member Professor Sir Jeremy Farrar said the world will be living with Covid-19 for "decades to come".
Appearing before the Health and Social Care Committee on Tuesday, Prof Farrar told MPs: "Things will not be done by Christmas. This infection is not going away, it's now a human endemic infection.
"Even, actually, if we have a vaccine or very good treatments, humanity will still be living with this virus for very many, many years to come."
