Experts around the world have warned that suicide rates are likely to rise during the coronavirus pandemic for various reasons, including economic hardships and domestic abuse.

Axar.az reports citing foreign media that the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted Japan's battle with high suicide rates as the number of people taking their own lives has risen for the first time in more than a decade.

According to figures released by Japan's health and welfare ministry, 20,919 people took their own lives in 2020, up 3.7 per cent from the year before. In contrast, COVID-19 took the lives of 3,460 people in the Asian nation.

Japan's suicide rate peaked in 2003 at around 34,000 people. Since then, the Japanese government has been making efforts to curb the nation's exceptionally high rates, including addressing deaths linked to overwork and introducing online counselling.