Suicide Rates Didn't Increase Under Lockdown
The Claim
Suicides have increased by 200% under lockdown.
News posted on
Emerging story
Numerous prominent Twitter users claimed that deaths have increased by 200% since lockdown. Tweets didn’t state which region they are referring to, but one of the widely shared tweets by Eddie Hearn refers to “Samaritans UK."
The claim is still spreading on Twitter.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar didn’t find any official statistics or evidence to support the claim that the rates of suicide increased during the period of lockdown. The claim cannot be corroborated because none of the official sources that report about suicide released any data covering the period of lockdown.
However, The Samaritans, a charity that provides help for those at risk of suicide, said they currently have no evidence of a rise in suicide rates. They also replied to many individual tweets on the issue:
During the investigation, we found a report by ITV on mental health charity saying that calls to its helpline have increased 200% since lockdown began. 
However, an increase in people contacting mental health is not evidence of an increase in suicide. People may have misread the title.
