UAE combats Covid-19: 94% of residents aware of the situation, says study

Dubai - Residents in the UAE and Saudi Arabia less fearful about contracting coronavirus.

Almost 94 per cent of the resident in the UAE are aware about Covid-19 and the level of information about handling the situation has been improved from the previous week, according to a survey.
New data from YouGov's Covid-19 tracker (March 25-31) shows 82 per cent of residents in the UAE are well informed about what to do if they suspect they have the coronavirus. UAE residents are ahead of Saudi residents in this regard (82 per cent vs 75 per cent).
The level of fear among residents in the UAE and Saudi Arabia about contracting the novel Coronavirus has stabilised over the past week and 72 per cent now say they are very or fairly scared about contracting it, up marginally from 69 per cent last week.
The survey results showed that Emiratis are the most concerned, with 83 per cent saying they are very or fairly scared about getting infected, compared to 79 per cent saying this last week. Arab expats in the country are also more anxious - at 79 per cent, up from 76 per cent last week.
The number of people in both the countries who say they are not very scared, or not scared at all, has fallen to 21 per cent from 25 per cent last week.
The study also shows more residents are taking precautionary measures to protect themselves. 
'Avoiding crowded places' remains the top measure taken by people in order to protect themselves from the virus (as said by 79 per cent), closely followed by maintaining personal hygiene (78 per cent). A higher number of women than men are following both these practices. 
Other behavioural changes include 'wearing a mask in public' and working from home, and the number of people taking these steps have increased notably, from 46 per cent and 37 per cent last week to 59 per cent and 47 per cent, respectively.  
Residents aged 45+ in both the countries continue being more cautious and are much more likely to observe almost all precautionary measures as compared to people from the other age groups.
Young adults still seem to be the least well-informed group. However, the rate of those aged 18-24 years saying they do not have enough information had reduced from 24 per cent in the first week of the survey to 18 now.
The number of people stockpiling essential items such as food, medicines, etc. has increased from 36 per cent to 44 per cent this week. 
Data was collected online by YouGov Omnibus among 2,028 respondents in the UAE and Saudi Arabia between March 25 and 31.
reporters@khaleejtimes.com

• Abu Dhabi
• Dubai