Volume 4(1) April 2021, Journal of Community Empowerment for Health 1 Silvano et al. Health protocol barrier during exercise in COVID-19 pandemic era Vol 4 (1) 2021, 1-7 | Original artcle DOI: 10.22146/jcoemph.60275 1. Introducton The current Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) was frst reported in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 and shortly aferward, it was transmited widely around the whole world. In 2020, the World Health Organizaton (WHO) declared the status of COVID-19 as an internatonal pandemic.¹ The relatve ease of the transmission of the virus combined with the absence of previous immunity and vaccinaton against COVID-19 have made this current viral outbreak as one of the most severe pandemics and fatal diseases in all of human history.² Since it was frst reported, almost 70 million COVID-19 cases have been confrmed and it has caused over 1.5 million casualtes around the world. Indonesia is the country which has the most cases in the South East Asia (ASEAN) region and is ranked 24th worldwide having almost 600 thousand positve cases and more than 18 thousand casualtes.³ This very dire circumstance has driven a worldwide public health campaign in order to slow the transmission of the virus, which recommends several suggestons for public health safety: including to increase hand washing, to reduce face touching, to wear masks in public areas and to maintain physical distancing. It is also highly recommended to restrict or prohibit actvites involved in the functoning of educatonal insttutons, such as schools and universites, places for communal objectves, public transportaton, in additon to other places where many people may gather, including sports and music events.⁴ Patients infected with COVID-19 often complain of respiratory and gastrointestinal disorders with The COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts on sub-urban society in Yogyakarta, Indonesia: A qualitative study Bayu Fandhi Achmad,* Shalmannuary Nisya Allquarismy, Siska Pratiwi, Yohannes Aruna Kertiyasa, Dewanggani Kirana, Dhyanti Mutiasari, Vineshankar Ravichandar, Yosafat Budiharjo Santoso Simanungkalit, Dionisia Setya, Farah Nabila Firry, Syaiful Ghozali, Wahida Yuyun Suciati Department of Basic and Emergency Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, Public Health and Nursing; Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia SUBMITTED: 01 October 2020 REVISED: 03 November 2020 ACCEPTED: 04 November 2020 ABSTRACT Indonesia is the country which has the most COVID-19 cases in South East Asia. The COVID-19 pandemic is causing serious psychological, social, and economic impacts particularly on the sub-urban society. This study aimed to explore the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on sub-urban society in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. This study used a hermeneutics phenomenological approach. that enrolled seven participants who reside in the sub-urban area of Yogyakarta province in June 2020. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants through Whatsapp mobile application and analyzed using interpretive phenomenological methods. Results showed that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic can be summarized into three themes. First, the impacts include negative emotions that arise due to psychosomatic symptoms, fear of losing loved ones, stereotypes and anxiety concerning contracting COVID-19 infection; Second, limited social interaction in the community and strict travel restrictions; and third, job and income losses including layofs from work and fear of not being able to meet family basic needs. The COVID-19 pandemic is causing several serious impacts involving psychological, social, and economic concerns that are disrupting the sub- urban society. Individual coping and family support are needed in the current situation. © The Journal 2021. This article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. KEYWORDS COVID-19 Lock-down Pandemic Sub-urban impacts Travel restrictions *Correspondence: bayu.fandhi.a@ugm.ac.id Department of Basic and Emergency Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, Public Health and Nursing, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, Jl. Farmako, Sekip Utara, Yogyakarta 55281, Indonesia.