JAPAN / Society

Suicides in Japan dropped for a decade. Then the pandemic hit.

The emotional strain of the COVID-19 outbreak is manifesting itself in a disturbing trend

In Japan, a nation that has long struggled with one of the highest suicide rates in the world, the emotional strain of the pandemic is manifesting itself in a disturbing trend. | GETTY IMAGES

By Alex K.T. Martin
Staff writer

Feb 7, 2021

Plagued by the notion that she may have transmitted COVID-19 to her child, a woman in her 30s took her own life last month.

Self-isolating with her daughter at her Tokyo home after both tested positive for the coronavirus, the woman was reportedly haunted by the possibility that she was the source of the infection. While both mother and child only exhibited mild symptoms, the woman apparently voiced concern to her husband about the chances of her daughter having spread the virus at her elementary school. He found his wife dead on the morning of Jan. 15.

“I’m so sorry to have caused trouble,” she left in a written note, according to reports.

Suicides in Japan dropped for a decade. Then the pandemic hit.

The emotional strain of the COVID-19 outbreak is manifesting itself in a disturbing trend

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