Coronavirus fear killing more people than virus

The coronavirus pandemic is not only dealing blows to financial markets, industries, schools, and countries across the world, but also the main cause of suicide in some parts of the world.

Ordinarily, the virus is supposed to be a ‘gradual cause’ of many deaths once infected, but now it seems many people are committing suicide before the virus takes its toll on them.

Once the individual tests positive, suicide becomes a choice for most people.

To many, this act may appear to be one of cowardice, but for the suicide victims, their only concern is not to spread the virus to the people they love; their families, friends and colleagues at work.

In Norfolk, a city in  Virginia in the United States,  a beautiful, funny and charming teenager, Emily Owen, feared being isolated with the coronavirus after testing positive.

 

The 19-year-old’s family confirmed that Emily died on March 22, after attempting to take her own life.

The young waitress had been unable to cope ‘with her world closing in, plans being cancelled and being stuck inside’.

Emily, who had been planning on volunteering to help others struggling to cope, died on Sunday after being found critically ill on Wednesday, March 18.

Before the tragedy happened, she warned her loved ones, “more people will die from suicide during this than the virus itself.

The young lady was concerned about coronavirus and its mental health impacts of isolation.

Her family suspects the “fear of the unknown may have driven her over the edge”.

Her sister, Annabel Owen, 21, said in a tribute posted online, “Emily was very concerned about the coronavirus itself, but more concerned about the mental health impact of isolation and the fear of the unknown.”

Her devastated family has demanded more awareness and support for people struggling with mental health issues during the pandemic.

A nursing federation in Italy has also confirmed that a 34-year-old Italian nurse killed herself after testing positive for coronavirus.

Daniela Trezzi, 34, was working on the frontline of the coronavirus crisis at a hospital in Lombardy, the worst-affected region of Italy.

The National Federation of Nurses of Italy confirmed her death and expressed its ‘pain and dismay’ in a statement on Thursday.

The federation said the nurse had been suffering ‘heavy stress’ because she feared she was spreading the virus while trying to bring the crisis under control.

Daniela Trezzi had been working at the San Gerardo Hospital in Monza. It is around nine miles from Milan, but was in quarantine after showing coronavirus symptoms and testing positive for the disease.

The General Manager of San Gerardo Hospital, Mario Alparone, said Daniela had been at home sick since March 10, and that ‘she was not under surveillance’.

Kings College Hospital, in South London, has also reported that an intensive care nurse believed to be in her 20s has killed herself at work.

She was found unresponsive at the hospital before the police were called at 5:36 pm on March 23.

Medics battled to save her, but she later died.

The young nurse, whose name was not mentioned, worked at a London hospital where coronavirus patients are being treated.

Based on reports, eight coronavirus patients have died at the London Hospital.

On March 19, The Economic Times reported that a man suspected of coronavirus had committed suicide by jumping off the seventh floor of a Safdarjung Hospital building on Wednesday.

The man was brought by the airport authorities as a coronavirus suspect and was immediately put in the isolation ward.

The Telegraph reported that a 50-year-old Indian father of three took his own life after convincing himself he had contracted coronavirus and would infect his family.

Bala Krishna, who lives in a small village in the Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, was told by doctors he had contracted an unknown virus after falling ill.

However, the 50-year-old became convinced he had picked up the coronavirus after watching videos online.

Mr Bala Krishna’s family tried to reason with him, arguing that he had not come into contact with anyone else suffering from the virus.

He self-quarantined himself and pelted family and friends with stones when they approached. According to reports in the Times of India, he sneaked out of the family home during the early hours of Monday, March 23, and took his own life.

It is thought to be the first death by suicide anywhere in the world linked to the coronavirus outbreak.

“My father kept on watching coronavirus-related videos the whole day and went on saying he has similar symptoms and that he was infected with the deadly virus,” the victim’s son told the Times of India.

“He told us that he feared the deadly virus could spread and others could get infected as well if they came anywhere close to him.”