Four In 10 UK Citizens Believe Tougher Lockdown Measures Needed To Combat COVID-19 - Poll

Muhammad Irfan Published April 03, 2020 | 08:37 PM

Approximately four in 10 UK citizens believe that their country's government needs to apply tougher self-isolation measures to combat the spread of COVID-19, according to a fresh poll published on Friday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 03rd April, 2020) Approximately four in 10 UK citizens believe that their country's government needs to apply tougher self-isolation measures to combat the spread of COVID-19, according to a fresh poll published on Friday.

The YouGov pollster surveyed 2,050 people on Thursday, asking them whether the government's restrictions imposed to slow the spread of the disease were too severe. In total, 38 percent of respondents believe that the government should apply stricter measures, a two percent increase compared to a similar survey conducted on Wednesday.

Slightly more than one-third of respondents believe that the UK media has adequately covered the ongoing global pandemic, according to the poll.

Additionally, 71 percent of respondents believe that the UK government should prioritize saving human lives over measures to protect the economy, compared to eight percent of people who hold the opinion that protecting the economy should be the government's top priority, the poll revealed.

The UK government has faced criticism in recent weeks for being slow to react to the COVID-19 pandemic in comparison with other European countries, particularly on the issue of closing the country's schools.

On March 12, former director of public health in northwest England John Ashton said that he was embarrassed by the UK's response to the health crisis, adding that the government should have taken action in February to help slow the outbreak.

For the third day in a row, the UK Department of Health and Social Care has registered a record day-on-day increase in the COVID-19 death toll. A total of 684 new deaths were confirmed by health authorities on Friday, raising the total number of deaths since the start of the outbreak to 3,605.