Australians satisfied with govt’s Covid-19 response: Study

Canberra, Dec 8 (SocialNews.XYZ) A new study revealed on Tuesday that a vast majority of Australians were satisfied with the government's response to the coronavirus pandemic, with nine out of 10 people in major states saying they agreed with the actions taken.

The study, by researchers at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), surveyed roughly 5,000 people from the country's eastern states, as well as Australians in New Zealand, Canada, the US and the UK in late November, reports Xinhua news agency.

Respondents in the states of New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland reported higher levels of satisfaction than those in Victoria which was recently at the epicentre the country's second wave of the pandemic.

Roughly 90 per cent of respondents in NSW and Queensland agreed with the Australian government's handling of Covid-19.

Australian residents in New Zealand (67 per cent) were less enthusiastic about their governments' response, although fared better than Canada (64 per cent), the UK (51 per cent) and the US (39 per cent).

"We see that in relative terms the state and Federal governments' management continues to be viewed as more effective in the eyes of the people living in Australia than other parts of the world," said co-author of the survey, Associate Professor Paul Burke, from UTS' Business Intelligence and Data Analytics (BIDA) group.

Australia recorded just seven new coronavirus cases on Monday, all of which were contracted overseas and tested positive after arriving in hotel quarantine.

The relatively low infection rate meant that Australia was able to reopen its domestic borders and significantly reduce Covid-19 restrictions on businesses and individuals in the lead up to Christmas, leaving residents free to mark the occasion however they chose alongside family and friends.

As of Tuesday, the country's overall caseload and death toll stood at 27,972 and 908, respectively.

Source: IANS