New Delhi, A global survey as well as an India-specific The IANS C-VOTER Gallup International Association Corona Tracker 1 threw a variety of interesting findings as far as how seriously Indians take using sanitizers to how comfortable are they in imposing self quarantine.
Modi government’s cause for cheer:
First up, the Modi government has received a thumbs up from its people. An astounding 84 per cent of people in India believe that Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government is handling the unprecedented coronavirus outbreak well.
According to the survey conducted, India overwhelmimgly agreed that the Modi government is handling the entire situation well. In contrast, only 72 per cent of Italians, 60 per cent of Pakistani and 42 per cent of people belonging to the US agreed with the statement.
58 per cent Indians think the government is handling the coronavirus well, which is way above the 20 per cent global average. The Gallup International snap poll was conducted in 22 countries around the world.
The question — How strongly do you agree or disagree with the following statements? — I think the Government is handling the coronavirus well – has the global average of 20% strongly agree and 13% strongly disagree. 58 per cent Indians strongly agree and only 9 per cent strongly disagree, which establishes that people appear to be satisfied with the government’s efforts in containing and responding to the coronavirus outbreak.
In the US only 8 per cent strongly agree with their government response and in major European countries – Germany is 7 per cent, Italy is 19 per cent, the UK is 11 per cent and France is 13 per cent. India tops the table where people are satisfied with government reassurance in the fight against coronavirus.
Why the Centre should be worried?
Away from the conviction in its government, the Narendra Modi government also needs to worry about something it warned against — complacency. An unprecedented 60 per cent of Indians believe that the coronavirus threat is hyperbolized, even as the number of confirmed cases in the country surged past 400 on Monday.
In the survey, a statement — I believe the threat from coronavirus is exaggerated — was put before 20,000 people belonging to 22 countries and their answers on the pandemic was sought.
Forty-two percent of Indians strongly agreed with the statement, while 12 just agreed with it.
What’s more? A whopping 75.5 per cent do not think using masks can help. To make things worse, 78.5 per cent Indians are not using hand sanitizers says IANS C-VOTER Corona Tracker 1, an exclusive first Global Poll on Covid-19.
A 75.5 per cent Indians don’t find using medical masks valid, while 24.5 per cent do. A worrying 92.7 per cent respondents said they aren’t convinced of using hand gloves. Merely 7.3 per cent have felt the need to. At a time when government is repeatedly stressing on using hand sanitizers, 78.5 per cent respondents said they don’t find it a valid proposition. Just 21 per cent said they are using it.
But, its not an Idea specific syndrome. 60 per cent of residents in one of the worst-affected nations with COVID-19, Italy still have not adopted wearing hand gloves to protect themselves from the deadly virus, IANS-CVOTER-Gallup international COVID tracker found.
The least performing nation among the others was Turkey where only 2 per cent of respondents said had adopted to wear hand gloves, while 98 per cent others spoke against.
Turkey was followed by Netherland where 96 per cent of respondents said they had not adopted to wearing hand gloves for protection against COVID-19 virus.
Sunday’s junta curfew may have been a hit but a massive 72.8 per cent respondents still believe that staying in house or less social interaction is not a valid idea. Even worse, 88 per cent voted against self quarantine system. But still, most agreed that they have taken precautionary steps.
The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in India stands at 415, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). Nine people have succumbed to the virus till now. While the extensive poll shows that Indians trust its government, but it also shows citizen are not doing enough, as expected of them, to keep off this deadly pandemic from spreading out.
