Majority Indians feel confident of preparedness for 3rd Covid wave: Survey

As many as 58 per cent of citizens surveyed feel confident that India is well prepared to handle the third wave of COVID, LocalCircles said on Thursday.

The question how confident do people feel about India's preparedness to handle a possible third COVID wave in August-December 2021, received 8,880 responses in a survey conducted by LocalCircles, a community social media platform.

As many as 26 per cent of respondents said they are highly confident. About 32 per cent said they are somewhat confident and 25 per cent noted that they have very little confidence. Nearly 13 per cent said they have no confidence at all, while 4 per cent did not have an opinion.

"On an aggregate basis, 58 per cent of citizens feel confident that India is well-prepared to handle the 3rd COVID wave in the coming months," LocalCircles said in a statement.

This is a marked shift from March 2021 when LocalCircles had asked citizens about India's ability to handle the second COVID wave. Back then, only 41 per cent had exuded confidence in India's ability to effectively handle the second wave.

The survey also asked respondents on how they foresee economic recovery from the impact of COVID in the next one year.

This question in the survey received 11,081 responses, of which 33 per cent said they are hopeful that the economy will recover completely and surpass pre-COVID 2019-20 GDP level.

About 11 per cent of the respondents said it will recover completely but not surpass pre-COVID 2019-20 level.

On an aggregate basis, 3 in 4 Indians foresee India that will be able to drive significant economic recovery from COVID within the next one year before it completes 75 years of Independence, LocalCircles said.

The survey also found that confidence levels about India being able to leverage demographic dividend and create enough jobs and entrepreneurship opportunities has dropped to an all-time low.

To the similar question asked in the 2018 and 2019 surveys or before the COVID-19 hit India, 35 per cent of citizens had said they were confident about India creating a lot of new employment and entrepreneurship opportunities. This percentage declined to 31 per cent in the 2020 survey, and is currently at 26 per cent.