Movement control order (MCO) or lockdown to control the spread of the Coronavirus began five months ago in Malaysia.
Since the policy was enacted, firefighters have been busy handling cases of people threatening suicide.
As reported by The Star, Tuesday (Dec 16 2020) in most cases, firefighters can coax them before taking them to hospital.
National Fire and Rescue Department Operations Director Nor Hisham Mohammad said June was their busiest month with 21 attempted suicide cases across the country.
He said between March and July, the department had handled 88 such cases, with 78 people rescued, seven injured and three killed.
Nor Hisham noted that these are only cases handled by the department and the figure could be much higher.
He said some of those who wanted to commit suicide were depressed, bipolar, had failed relationships or were in financial trouble.
There were equal numbers of men and women, he said adding, that the youngest to be saved from suicide was a 15-year-old girl in Kelantan.
While the oldest are some people in their 60s from Sabah.
Most cases occurred in urban areas with Selangor topping the list with 31 cases followed by Kuala Lumpur (13), Sarawak (7) and Johor (6).
He said there were also six cases of attempted suicide involving foreigners with one death this year.
