In a week that saw hospital admissions fall and PPE equipment delayed, approval in the government’s handling of the Coronavirus situation has decreased for the second week in row, falling from 57% to 51%. Confidence in their ability to take us through it has also decreased slightly from 52% to 49% according to this morning’s Opinium Poll.
The public expect lockdown measures to be extended once again. Only 3% think that lockdown will be lifted on 7th May, the date the current lockdown measures have been extended to. A further 7% think they will be in place until mid-May, and one in five (19%) think they will be lifted in the last week or two of May. However, seven in ten expect lockdown measures to last beyond May, and two in five (39%) expect it to last beyond June.
The public are in favour of a staggered re-opening of places, with limitations on the number of people allowed inside places, and periodic closures if the number of infections start to rise again. However, half (49%) of the public want nightclubs in particular to remain closed until a vaccine is available.
The UK government is middle of the pack in terms of how people perceive them as having responded to the crisis vis-à-vis other countries. The UK is perceived to dealt with the crisis better than the US but worse than South Korea, Australia and Germany. Meanwhile, it sits in line with the majority of European countries, including France, Italy and Spain.
63% think the government has not acted fast enough to stop the spread of the Coronavirus, up from 61% last week.
Unsurprisingly,schools, shops and offices are the main priorities for the public for re-opening after the lockdown. Asked about when different types of places should be
reopened, the most common response for most of them was when the number of new infections goes down, with limitations on the number of people and closures again if the number of infections start to rise.The exception are nightclubs and stadiums, where most think they should only reopen once a vaccine is available.
