[ad_1]
Japan is struggling with a mental health crisis as the coronavirus pandemic rages, with more people dying in a month from suicide than from Covid-19 throughout the year, CNN reported.
The National Police Agency said suicides increased to 2,153 in October alone, with over 17,000 people having taken their own lives this year to date.
By comparison, fewer than 2,000 people in the country died from Covid-19 in 2020.
“We haven’t even had a blockade, and the impact of Covid is minimal compared to other countries … but we still see this huge increase in the number of suicides,” Michiko Ueda, an associate professor at Waseda University in Tokyo, said a suicide expert.
The rise in suicides has disproportionately affected women. Although they represent a smaller percentage of total suicides than men, the number of women who commit suicide is on the rise. In October, suicides among women in Japan increased by nearly 83% compared to the same month last year. For comparison, male suicides increased by nearly 22% over the same time period.
There are many potential reasons for this. Women make up a larger percentage of part-time workers in the hotel, restaurant and retail sectors, where layoffs have been profound.
As we previously reported, scientists have discovered a new type of virus, similar to the strain that causes Covid-19, in the dung of cave bats in Japan.
The team studied in detail the gene of a virus contained in the droppings of small horseshoe bats collected in a cave in Japan seven years ago and found that the gene is 81.5% consistent with the coronavirus. It means that a virus similar to Covid-19 has been found.
.
[ad_2]
Source link
