Only one third of Russians observe one-meter social distancing — poll
08:34, 29 April
Only 36% of Russians comply with the government’s instructions to observe the one-meter social distancing, according to a survey by the Institute of State and Municipal Management of the Higher School of Economics.
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The poll shows that 67% of Russians opt for staying home more frequently, but use other preventative measures less often. For example, 56% of respondents wash their hands less often, while only 36% observe social distancing.
"The same 36% of Russians said they had started to avoid public transport whenever possible. 45% of them shop less often, but only 8% shop online more frequently," the survey said.
Russia’s sanitary watchdog Rospotrebnadzor instructed all citizens to observe the social distancing of one meter on April 1.
‘Once the restrictions are lifted, the majority of respondents plan to return to their normal life: 38.2% of people dream of walks in fresh air, 32% are looking forward to meet their relatives and friends, 26.4% plan to return to their work. 1.2% plan to divorce. And only 1.1% want to keep working in the teleworking mode," the survey says.
Comemnting on the results of the poll, Member of the HSE Academic Council Andrey Zhulin said Russians "are growing increasingly tired of restrictive measures."
"Russians are looking forward to returning to normal life once the pandemic is over. This attitude demonstrates positive expectations, based on the understanding that the current restrictions are necessary, but, at the same time, temporary," he said.
The research was conducted on April 18-20, in the form of an online survey among 11,100 respondents from all across Russia.
On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, over 3,000,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 207,000 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 882,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.
To date, a total of 87,147 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 7,346 patients having recovered from the virus. Russia’s latest data indicates 794 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.
