ISLAMABAD: As Pakistan crossed its highest coronavirus-related deaths in a day, a survey revealed that only three per cent Pakistanis are clear-headed about the disease, with no misconceptions about its prevention, spread and cure.
A snap poll by Ipsos, a global market research and public opinion specialist, released on Tuesday showed public perceptions, attitudes and behaviors among Pakistanis towards the coronavirus pandemic.
The survey was conducted on 1,028 persons, including 72 per cent men and 28 per cent women (68 per cent urban and 32 per cent rural population) during May 19-23.
The poll depicted that one in three Pakistanis believed in conspiracy theories related to the coronavirus with 42 per cent terming it a foreign conspiracy, 33 per cent calling it a laboratory-made virus spread in the world on purpose and 42 per cent having misconception that it affects only the people above 55 years of age.
It said that Pakistani women are three times likelier to have more clarity than men regarding Covid-19 misconceptions.
The survey revealed six in 10 Pakistanis were not comfortable to allow their children return to school in the coming weeks.
However, 50 per cent felt comfortable going back to work and 51 per cent believed they would lose their job in next six months.
Three out of five Pakistanis believed they deserved aid from the government due to Covid-19. The expectations are found more among lower economic class and less educated people, it said.
Three in five Pakistanis believed that the ease in lockdown would lead to detrimental increase in infections and deaths.
The survey found that nearly half of the Pakistanis would hold themselves responsible if coronavirus situation gets worse after ease in lockdown, whereas one in four would blame the government.
Ipsos also put forth a few vital damage control recommendations to the concerned policy-makers based on the empirical research and holistic analyses.
It called for “an intensive yet uniform, coherent and integrated communication campaign by the federal and all provincial governments as crucial to sensitize all Pakistanis about the fatal nature of this pandemic”.
It said that amid widespread misconceptions among all Pakistanis regardless of their social classes, literacy levels and other demographics, it was prudent to develop well-thought myth- busting strategy, clear messaging, delivery mechanism and destination milestones.
Other recommendations included taking religious community onboard by the governments to win their active support for the spread of ‘right and factual’ messaging about Covid-19.
It pointed out that Twitter enjoyed least confidence among Pakistanis, hence any communication through this medium to fix misconceptions, was unlikely to pay any dividends adequately.
