A majority of people want the emergency decree to be lifted now that the Covid-19 situation is much improved, but most want the curfew and bar closure maintained.according to the result of an opinion survey by the National Institute of Development Administration, or Nida Poll,
The poll was conducted on May 11-13 on 1,259 people aged 18 and over of various levels of education and occupation throughout the country to gauge their opinions on a proposal to lift the executive decree for administration in emergency situations.
A majority -- 57.74% -- of the respondents said they wanted the emergency decree to be lifted, reasoning that the Covid-19 situation was much improved, allowing people of various occupations to resume work. Of them, 35.98% strongly agreed with the proposal and 21.76% were in moderate agreement with it.
On the other side, 15.15% leaned agaisnt the proposal to lift the decree, while 25.74% were strongly against it, saying they wanted to make sure there would not be a second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The rest, 1.35%, had no comment or were not interested.
On a proposal for the 10pm-4am curfew to be lifted, 41.22% said the curfew should continue to be in force until the Covid-19 outbreak is 100% under control; 33.68% said the curfew should be lifted to allow night workers to return to work; 23.99% said the curfew period should be adjusted in favour of late night workers; and 1.11% had no comment or were not interested.
Asked when the curfew should begin and end, 40.73% said it should be midnight-4am; 18.21% 11pm-4am; 12.58% midnight-5am; 6.29% 11pm-3am; 5.30% 11pm-5am; and 16.89% chose other times.
Asked whether pubs, bars and liquor shops should be allowed to open now, a large majority -- 78.87% -- said "no", saying they could spark a second wave of the pandemic; 18.03% said "yes", reasoning that those venues had long been closed and their employees out of a job; and 3.10% had no comment or were not interested.
Finally, when asked which of freedom and health is more important, 83.80% said they attached more importance to health; 12.87% said freedom was more important to them; 2.86% said they were equally important and would leave it to the government to decide; and 0.47% had no comment or were not interested.
