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Ying Lin,1 Jing Wang,2,3 Weizhi Liu,2– 4 Yanpu Jia2,3 1China Executive Leadership Academy-Pudong, Shanghai, 201204, People’s Republic of China; 2Lab for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Faculty of Psychology and Mental Health, Naval Medical University, Shanghai, 200433, People’s Republic of China; 3The Emotion & Cognition Lab, Faculty of Psychology and Mental Health, Naval Medical University, Shanghai, 200433, People’s Republic of China; 4Key Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology of the Ministry of Education, Naval Medical University, Shanghai, 200433, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Yanpu Jia, The Emotion & Cognition Lab, Faculty of Psychology and Mental Health, Naval Medical University, #800 Xiangyin Road, Shanghai, 200433, People’s Republic of China, Email JYP6631@163.com Weizhi Liu, Lab for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Faculty of Psychology and Mental Health, Naval Medical University, #800 Xiangyin Road, Shanghai, 200433, People’s Republic of China, Tel/Fax +86-21-81871671, Email 13024141970@163.comPurpose: Shanghai, a mega-city with a population of 25 million, was becoming the first city in mainland China to erupt in the Omicron pandemic. The pandemic and the quarantine measures of whole city static management brought out big challenges for the population. This study sought to examine the psychological impact of such quarantine measures.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in China between April 8 to April 14, 2022. The survey contained inventories of stress perception, emotion states, duration of quarantine, and demographic characteristics. A total of 1,051 participants in Shanghai who were quarantined at home were included by random sampling.Results: We found moderate-to-mild perceived stress (3.248± 1.936) and emotion states (3.453± 2.094). Individuals with high negative emotions had high levels of perceived stress. Specifically, the population aged 30– 49, female, with higher household income, staying with the elderly or children, were more likely to report high stress and negative emotion. Hierarchical regression and the further path analysis indicated that emotion states partially mediated the relationship between quarantined days at home and perceived stress.Conclusion: There was a moderate-to-mild level of perceived stress and emotion when quarantined at home for an average of 20 days in Shanghai. The present findings implicated more positive emotion then less stress perception at the same duration of quarantine. It was suggested to consider the measures taken to construct positive emotions for the public to overcome negativity and bring out a virtuous circle to thrive, if the quarantine has to be continued for preventing the pandemic.Keywords: omicron pandemic, zero-COVID policy, perceived stress, emotion states, quarantine at home