Stress, isolation, suicide: Australia's new mental health officer on the challenges of Covid-19

Australia’s new deputy chief medical officer for mental health, Dr Ruth Vine, has sounded a cautionary note over a high-profile study predicting massive increases in suicide following the Covid-19 pandemic. The research by top academics from the University of Sydney predicted a 25% increase in suicide and has been seized upon by advocates in the call for greater mental health funding and real-time suicide data. Vine, who was appointed to the newly created role earlier this month as the government unveiled a suite of mental health measures, agrees it is important to “keep a very close eye on suicide data” but warns of “the difficulty” of modelling suicide, which she says is “always multifactorial”.