A majority of people think the partial lockdown to contain the Covid-19 pandemic has not been successful but want it to continue with certain tweaks, according to a survey conducted by the National Institute of Development administration, or Nida Poll.
The poll was conducted via telephone interviews on Aug 23-26 with 1,312 respondents aged 18 and over of various levels of education and occupations throughout the country to compile their opinions on the current Covid-19 lockdown.
Asked whether they thought the lockdown was successful, a majority, 64.68%, said "no". Of them, 35.67% said it was a complete failure because only some areas were put in lockdown and the measures taken were not strict, causing new infections to continue, while 28.81% said the lockdown was not very successful because some people did not fully comply with the government's measures and some had not received a Covid jab.
On the other side, 26.83% said the partial lockdown was fairly successful as people had strictly followed the government's guidelines, thus reducing transmissions, and 6.17% said it was a big success, reasoning that the movement restrictions helped reduce the number of infections.
The rest, 2.52%, had no answer or were not interested.
Asked whether the lockdown should continue, a large majority, 73.55%, said "yes." Of them, 26.14% said it should continue but with more stringent measures to stop people travelling and gathering; 26.14% said it should continue but the measures should be relaxed as some people had been vaccinated; and 21.27% said it should continue as-is because the current measures are appropriate.
Only 24.16% of the respondents thought the lockdown should be lifted, reasoning it was preventing people from making a living and the virus was spreading regardless. They said the government should instead acquire quality vaccines for the people.
The remaining respondents, 2.29%, did not answer or were not interested.
