Increasing number think government didn’t act fast enough over coronavirus, poll reveals

Two-thirds of adults think ministers brought in strict measures to deal with the emergency too late, a rise from 57% two weeks ago, the Ipsos Mori survey found.

The snapshot poll said people are also becoming less concerned about the risks to them personally from the outbreak.

In the past month, the percentage of people expressing concern about the risk to themselves over time has dropped nine points to stand at 69%.

The number of people who say they are ‘very concerned’ for the country as a whole has dropped to 49% from 63% when lockdown began in March.

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However, confidence in how the NHS can deal with the crisis has grown.

Since mid-March belief in the health service’s ability to deal with the emergency has risen from 62% to 82%.

The proportion of people who are ‘very confident’ in the ability of the NHS to deal with coronavirus has climbed from from 15% to 32%.

Keiran Pedley, research director at Ipsos Mori, said: ‘Although the public are still showing high levels of concern about the virus, these trends suggest the government faces two challenges.

‘Firstly, how do you ensure people stay in lockdown as they becomes less concerned about the risk the virus poses to themselves personally?

‘Secondly, if the public reaches a consensus that the government acted too slowly in dealing with the virus in the first place, it may have difficult questions to answer on that in the future.’