Citation

Ahmed S, Khaium MO, Tazmeem F. Int. J. Soc. Psychiatry 2020; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0020764020938809

PMID

32586209

Abstract

The first COVID-19 case of India has been identified in Kerala on 30 January 2020 (‘Kerala Reports First Confirmed Coronavirus Case in India’, 2020). On 12 March 2020, the death of the first coronavirus case has been confirmed (‘India’s First Coronavirus Death Is Confirmed in Karnataka’, 2020), and since then, as of 21 April 2020, a total of 46,433 got infected, and 1,568 coronavirus deaths have been endorsed in India (World Health Organization, 2020). Due to the spike in corona cases, the government of India enforced a total lockdown to slow down the spread of coronavirus across the whole country for 21 days from 25 March to 14 April 2020 (‘Coronavirus: India Enters “Total Lockdown” After Spike in Cases’, 2020), later extended until 3 May (‘PM Narendra Modi Says India Will Extend Coronavirus Lockdown Until 3 May’, 2020). However, India witnessed another crisis because of this lockdown. Most of the liquor shops have been shut down for the time being following the government announcement, which led the liquor addicts to suffer from alcohol withdrawal symptoms (AWS).

Thus, as of 5 May 2020, at least 23 people committed suicide and several more attempted suicide due to the unavailability of alcohol and suffering from AWS. All of these people were from the states of the southern part of India, that is, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Karnataka. The number of patients with AWS visiting different mental health hospitals for consultations was also increased at least fourfold amid this COVID-19 lockdown compared to the regular days all over India. All of the suicide cases were men, and the majority of them (n = 17) were Hindu. Their age ranged from 28 to 70 years, and 15 of them were more than 35 years old. Fifteen men committed suicide within the first 7 days of the lockdown. Among the 23 cases, 9 men were from Karnataka, 5 from Kerala, 5 from Tamil Nadu and 4 from Telangana state ...

Language: en