Suicide Claimed More Lives In October Than 10 Months Of COVID-19 In Japan, Report Shows

By Jon Miltimore

Early in the coronavirus pandemic, scientists warned that economic lockdowns could cause serious mental health repercussions.

“Secondary consequences of social distancing may increase the risk of suicide,” researchers noted in an April 10 paper published by the American Medical Association. “It is important to consider changes in a variety of economic, psycho-social, and health-associated risk factors.”

Essentially, researchers warned, forced isolation could prove to be “a perfect storm” for suicide.

Seven months later, new evidence is emerging to suggest these researchers were right.

“Far more Japanese people are dying of suicide, likely exacerbated by the economic and social repercussions of the pandemic, than of the COVID-19 disease itself,” CBS News reports. “While Japan has managed its coronavirus epidemic far better than many nations, keeping deaths below 2,000 nationwide, provisional statistics from the National Police Agency show suicides surged to 2,153 in October alone, marking the fourth straight month of increase.”

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