Survey: Majority Approve of Business Closures to Stop Coronavirus in Iran

EghtesadOnline: More than 80% of public and private sector employees and 68% of the self-employed and employers approve of the shutdown of businesses to fight the outbreak of coronavirus.

News ID: ۷۴۹۸۳۴

11 April 2020

This was the outcome of the third opinion poll conducted by the Social and Cultural Studies Department of Tehran Municipality and the Iranian Students Polling Agency between April 4-7, according to Financial Tribune.

With half of the country in shutdown, about 70% of 1,023 respondents of the telephone survey said they were facing economic problems and would survive for not more than two months.

The retired population was less worried about their livelihoods: 50% of them said they would survive economically for more than five months. Economic worries were rife among independent job holders, as 50% said they were currently feeling the economic strain of coronavirus.

When compared with the results of the first round, people’s worries about getting infected by the virus had increased; 51% of the respondents said they were very concerned about the health of their family members and themselves while 29% said they were not too worried.

People’s dissatisfaction with the performance of governmental and public institutions in the management of the crisis decreased from 65% in the first round to 46% in the third round of the survey.

Coronavirus lockdowns had caused more tensions in 16% of families in Tehran; 58% of such tensions were between husbands and wives, and 46% between parents and children, IRNA reported.

The coronavirus outbreak has reduced the income of 70% of households living in the capital city, the second survey suggested.

“When compared with the results of an earlier report by the two surveyors, the new poll conducted between March 11-14 showed people’s access to medical and hygiene products improved by 9% and their lack of confidence in official statistics on mortalities and infected population declined by 14%,” Mohammad Reza Javadi-Yeganeh, an official with Tehran Municipality, tweeted.

“People’s dissatisfaction with the performance of governmental and public institutions in the management of the crisis has decreased by 9%."

According to the results of the first round of the survey, approximately 63% of the residents of the capital city said they didn’t have sufficient access to medical and hygiene products, such as masks and disinfectants, amid the increasing cases of COVID-19, of whom 74% blamed it on market shortage and 22% said they could not afford to buy masks or sanitizers.

About 61% of respondents in the former survey said they would support widespread quarantine of the city while 33% said they were against it. More women favored widespread quarantine or isolation of the city than men (66% vs 56%), which is probably due to high employment among men compared to women. For men, being placed under quarantine suggests lack of livelihood.

Women are more concerned about the health of their family and themselves. Generally, 50% of people said they were considerably worried about the spread of coronavirus, of whom women accounted for 56% and men constituted 44%.

Nearly 39% of the respondents said they would stay at home once they see symptoms of the virus while 23% said they would go to hospitals.

Nearly 76% of the respondents said they believed justice was poorly served when it came to the quality of medical services offered to officials and ordinary people, Hamshahri Online reported.