7 in 10 Koreans back stricter social distancing measures

Seoul, Dec 20 (SocialNews.XYZ) Slightly over 70 percent of South Koreans approve of toughened social distancing measures to stem the resurgence of Covid-19, a poll revealed on Monday.

In the poll of 1,000 adults nationwide organised by multiple civic groups, 71.3 per cent supported the government's decision to halt the "living with Covid-19" scheme for two weeks and restore stricter social distancing measures, reports Yonhap News Agency.

Under the new policy, the maximum number of people at private gatherings was reduced to four and a 9 p.m. curfew was imposed on restaurants and cafes.

The poll was conducted by pollster Research View from Dec. 14-18 at the request of the Asian Citizen's Center for Environment and Health (ACCEH) and 28 other civic groups and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points with a confidence level of 95 per cent.

In a similar survey carried out in April last year, as many as 94.5 per cent of respondents said social distancing must be strengthened to prevent the spread of Covid-19, indicating that public support for strict quarantine policies may have waned as the coronavirus situation has continued for nearly two years.

In addition, the people's positive evaluation of the government's quarantine policy has remarkably fallen from 75.9 per cent in April last year to 49.6 per cent, lately.

The ACCEH said the latest poll appears to reveal growing public fatigue and concern about the prolonged Covid-19 situation and negative public evaluations of the outgoing government's policies.

Source: IANS