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Here's what Austrians think about the coronavirus measures

The Local Austria
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Here's what Austrians think about the coronavirus measures
Belvidere Palace in Vienna in non-coronavirus times. Photo by daniel plan on Unsplash

There are mixed views on the strict measures to stem the spread of coronavirus, two surveys have found.

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Most of Austria's population is on board with strict measures to stem the spread of coronavirus, a new survey has found.

According to survey by Demox, an institute close to the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), 35 percent describe the tightened measures as "clearly right", while 41 percent said they were "more or less right". A further 21 percent consider them "more or less" or "clearly wrong".

The survey published Thursday involved 1,000 respondents who were asked questions from 17th to 19th November.

Since Tuesday, November 19th, Austria entered a lockdown in order to stop the spread of the coronavirus, but tough measures have been in place since the start of the month.

EXPLAINED: Austria's new coronavirus lockdown measures 

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'More than half of Austrians believe measures will do more harm than coronavirus'

Meanwhile, a survey published on Wednesday by the Gallup Institute in cooperation with Medienhaus Wien paints a completely different picture, reported the Kurier.

According to the findings, more than half of respondents believe the tough measures will harm society more than Covid-19 itself.

And 56 per cent of respondents believe that the reason for the increase in new infections is the careless handling of the pandemic in the summer.

Since mid-March, the institute has regularly surveyed people to find out the mood in the crisis.

For the latest research, 1,000 people were interviewed online between November 5th and 10th (before the current lockdown). It is representative of the web-active population aged 16 and over.

READ ALSO: Everything you need to know about working from home in Austria

Here are some important findings from the survey summed up:

  • The fear of getting coronavirus has risen recently, according to 57 percent of respondents
  • For the first time since April, the willingness to temporarily give up civil liberties has also increased, among 80 percent of people
  • Nevertheless, according to the study, only half of the population still believes that the government is dealing with the pandemic in the right way
  • The proportion of those who think that the pandemic is not under control reached 83 percent, the highest level since the outbreak of the pandemic
  • More than half of the respondents (51 per cent) believe that the measures to combat coronavirus cause more damage than the Covid-19 disease itself
  • Restrictions of freedom and social isolation will indirectly lead to more health damage than the disease itself, believe 56 percent
  • And 63 percent believe that the economic consequences of the measures will destroy the lives of more people than corona.

How do Austrians think the country is handling the pandemic compared to other countries?

The survey also asked how Austrians see themselves in comparison to other places.

Almost two thirds (60 percent) say that the country is better off in the crisis compared to others.

However, only 42 percent think that Austria is more successful than others in coping with the corona crisis and only 39 percent think that the Austrian government is pursuing a better strategy than other EU countries.

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