Fear of ‘corona’ not dominating Kuwait

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KUWAIT CITY, April 27: The ARA Research & Consultancy Company conducted a survey about the spread of the novel coronavirus in Kuwait and the official governmental procedures to face the global pandemic where the research affirmed the fear of “corona” is not dominating the country and the level of reassurance toward government’s measures is high in both citizens and expatriates, reports Al-Anba daily.

In a statement, the company explained the research was conducted on a sample of 507 people distributed in all Kuwaiti governorates through random telephone calls, taking into account the distribution of the sample to represent the demographic structure in Kuwait, with all its social calibers. It also pointed out that coronavirus, which is currently preoccupying most of the global concerns has not been able to sow panic among a significant segment of the public, as witnessed in several other countries.

Concern
It indicated the reassurance rate with regard to government measures is great, explaining that the vast majority of people in Kuwait (about 85 percent of the sample) said they did not fall prey to panic from the coronavirus, while 39 percent of the entire sample said they do not feel any concern at all from it, and 46 percent feel only slight concern.

On the other hand, it appears that 11 percent of respondents feel very anxious, and 4 percent are terrified, noting the coronavirus has managed to terrify people who live alone or with another person more than those who live in larger families.

In terms of quarantine and curfew, the research asserted that official directives governing selfquarantine are strictly adhered to by the vast majority of Kuwaitis and Arab expats (94 percent), and those who are not totally committed are a few young Kuwaiti employees under the age of 24.

Supported
Complementing self-quarantine, the escalation of preventive measures came to prevent complete curfew that was supported by the majority (67 percent) compared to 33 percent who are against it, and the opinion that refuses full curfew emerged among those over the age of 55 (50 percent of them) more than those of the younger generation, and those living alone or with another person.

A large majority of about 81 percent considered the official measures taken in Kuwait largely effective, 15 percent not up to par, and a negligible proportion of less than 1 percent considered that formal procedures have been ineffective. With regard to the quantity of procedures, 81 percent of the samples considered these formal procedures sufficient as opposed to the opinion of 15 percent who considered them insufficient, most of whom are Kuwaitis.

Among the segment of people with income of more than KD 2,850, which is less than for 4 percent of the sample, considered the measures exaggerated. Comparing other GCC countries dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, the vast majority (86 percent) discovered that Kuwait’s approach to the crisis is the best, while 14 percent considered Kuwait’s confrontation efforts to be the same as those of other GCC countries.

As regards the reliance on social media as a source of information, the survey revealed that hand-held smart devices are most popular in acquiring information and news concerning the pandemic, whether locally, regionally or globally. Therefore, social networking sites, led by Twitter and Instagram, constitute the first source of information with 51 percent in knowing the latest news related to coronavirus, followed by television with 36 percent.

Websites ranked 9 percent, while reliance on electronic applications and newspapers decreased as sources of information. It should be noted that television preceded social media sites by a large difference as a source of information for the age group of over 50, as 65 percent considered television to be their primary source of information in relation to the coronavirus.

Also, the difference was clear between the Kuwaiti’s dependence on television as a source of information more than the Arab expats (42 percent Kuwaitis versus 25 percent Arab expats), who naturally followed the websites more than Kuwaitis to know the state of their country in the face of the epidemic. Finally, it is noteworthy the results came very close according to different social groups and segments, and there are no significant differences in them.

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