A latest nationwide survey conducted by Ipsos Pakistan has revealed that Pakistanis despite attaining awareness about COVID-19 last month, were now not adhering to the required Standard Operating Procedures, which may worsen the situation in days ahead.
“Quite worryingly, after attaining universal awareness of COVID-19 in April, Pakistanis seem to start forgetting it. Similarly, perceived level of threat and preventive measures’ compliance is going down significantly,” the findings of the survey disclosed.
According to the survey, despite high awareness, only 50 per cent of Pakistanis feel concerned about the spread of virus. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa emerged as a province whose population was most nervous about the pandemic.
A decline was also witnessed in the people’s perception of a ‘complete lockdown’ across all provinces while more drop was witnessed in Sindh and Balochistan, it added.
The survey also revealed that amid coronavirus, majority of Pakistanis did not intend to buy new stuff on Eid ul Fitr. This included people mainly belonging to lower income groups and rural areas.
Some 80 per cent of the Pakistanis think that economic activity and businesses should reopen even if the virus was not fully contained which was the highest among all 15 surveyed countries.
Similarly, 80 per cent Pakistanis expect things would return back to normalcy by June and were quite optimistic that the economy would recover quickly once the lockdown was over.
