Urban Indians are clear about what needs to be done to curtail the spread of coronavirus.
An overwhelming majority, 95%, thinks the current national lockdown will successfully fight Covid-19, according to data from YouGov, a UK-based global public opinion and data company. India is now in its eighth day of a 21-day curfew prime minister Narendra Modi announced on March 24.
Since then, essential services have struggled to function, mass reverse migration of daily-wage workers is on, and instances of police brutality have increased.
Despite these setbacks, though, the Modi government seems to have won the confidence of residents in metropolitan cities, where 91% have said they have faith in the government’s ability to handle the pandemic. YouGuv’s data was collected from 1,000 respondents between March 24 and 27, just three days into the lockdown.
This level of confidence has risen from the week before (between March 17 and 20). As of today (April 1), there are over 1,200 active cases of Covid-19 across the country; 35 deaths have been reported due to the disease.
However, it isn’t as if the lockdown has reduced the level of fear among Indians of the fast-spreading virus that has killed over 40,000 across the world. If anything, the rising number of cases in India has only fueled fears further.
Anxieties
There are other worries, too. From economic recession and job loss to rationing of groceries and deaths among the impoverished, urban Indians have thought of various scenarios that could play out during and after the lockdown.
Younger Indians seem to be a more optimistic lot, with fewer stressing the possibility of a slump.