en Preventive Medicine & Community Health Preventive Medicine & Community Health Debate Article Debate Article The new coronavirus pandemic at the end of 2019 raised fear around the world. The rapid spread and relatively higher observed case fatality of this disease compared to other viral respiratory infections, have caused social reactions such as xenophobia and stigma. These negative social attitudes and acts will affect different segments of the society, such as patients and their families and health care providers. Also, this could disrupt the identification and surveillance of patients and could lead to considerable negative impacts on its control and management.<br> &nbsp; Social Stigma, COVID-19, Health care providers 689 691 http://mjiri.iums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-6006-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Mehran Asadi-Aliabadi Mehran_Asadi_A@yahoo.com 200319475328460064258 200319475328460064258 No Preventive Medicine and Public Health Research Center, Psychosocial Health Research Institute, & Student Research Committee, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Arash Tehrani-Banihashemi tehrani.a@iums.ac.ir 200319475328460064259 200319475328460064259 Yes Preventive Medicine and Public Health Research Center, Psychosocial Health Research Institute, & Community and Family Medicine Department, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Maziar Moradi-Lakeh moradilakeh.m@iums.ac.ir 200319475328460064260 200319475328460064260 No Preventive Medicine and Public Health Research Center, Psychosocial Health Research Institute, & Community and Family Medicine Department, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran