Most Indians want borders closed

New Delhi: A majority of Indians want the country's borders to be closed until the coronavirus outbreak is contained, the latest Ipsos survey findings indicate. The findings released on Thursday also show that unemployment fears are a primary driver for the rising concerns over COVID-19.

The survey of 12,000 people belonging to 12 major countries in the Asia-Pacific region, was conducted between March 12-15. The survey results show that 79 per cent of Indians are most supportive of the idea of border closures, closely followed by Vietnam where 78 per cent of the people support border closure.

The sentiment is shared by people in 12 other countries too.

In Italy, the world's other coronavirus hotspot, 76 per cent of the population, are in agreement of this drastic measure, followed by China with 73 per cent and Russia at 70 per cent approval ratings for border closure.

"Defeating the disease is pertinent and these temporary drastic measures, have found support among most of the urban Indians polled. Also, since the pandemic has been spreading vastly, Indians too are fearing for their jobs and businesses," said Amit Adarkar, CEO, Ipsos India.

A significant driver in the growth for concern about COVID-19 is that more people now believe someone close to them will be infected by the virus. The majority of people in Vietnam (67%), the United Kingdom (57%), India, Australia and Japan (51%) think someone close to them will get coronavirus.

In addition to this, 55 per cent of Indians surveyed, think their job is under threat as the pandemic spreads, while 63 per cent of Vietnamese think on the same line. In Italy too, employment worries over coronavirus peaked at 63 per cent.

To date, 166 confirmed cases have been reported and three deaths attributed to coronavirus in India. Worldwide, 2,07,855 confirmed cases and 9000 deaths have been reported from 166 countries.