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New poll shows global lack of confidence in government handling of COVID-19

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A new survey has shown that citizens around the world are losing confidence in their governments over their handling of the coronavirus pandemic, Yahoo News reports. Publishing their report on Saturday, Kekst CNC communications consultancy said: “In most countries this month, support for national governments is falling.” The survey came as officials reported over 280,000 daily new cases worldwide on both Thursday and Friday.

In Brazil, President Jair Bolsonaro has been criticized not only for handling the pandemic poorly, but also for suggesting he was cured of COVID-19 by taking hydroxychloroquine. Used to treat malaria, hydroxychloroquine has not been clinically proven to fight coronavirus. Bolsonaro, who had described COVID-19 as “a little flu,” was diagnosed with the virus on July 7 and tweeted on Saturday that he has now tested negative, Yahoo News noted.

In Israel, protestors have taken to the streets to demonstrate against their government’s arbitrary use of lockdown measures such that businesses like restaurants bought supplies after being told they could open, but then had to throw food away after being instructed to close again without proper warning. Citizens are also protesting against a proposed law that would give the government sweeping powers to impose lockdown measures without parliamentary scrutiny until June 2021. The unemployment rate in Israel has shot up to 20%, with many citizens feeling abandoned by the government.

The Kekst CNC survey polled 1,000 people per country and found a widespread belief among respondents that the coronavirus death and infection rates in their country are higher than the official figures, Straits Times reported. In the US, respondents said they thought about a tenth of America’s population had died of the virus, over 200 times the official toll. In Germany, respondents thought their death toll was over 300 times higher than they have been told. Respondents in Sweden and the UK believed their death toll to be 100 higher than reported.

“Despite relatively low incidence rates compared to earlier in the pandemic in most countries (with the exception of the US), people significantly overestimate the spread and fatality rate of the disease,” Kekst CNC said in their report. “Such views will be impacting consumer behavior and wider attitudes – business leaders and governments will need to be conscious of this as they move to restart economies and transition into living with coronavirus for the medium to longer term,” Kekst CNC said.

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