SINGAPORE (May 13): Singapore has come in ninth place in a survey of 23 countries gauging citizens’ sentiment towards their countries’ Covid-19 responses.
The survey measured the sentiments of citizens of these 23 countries on their national Covid-19 crisis management efforts. Four key performance indicators were used: national political leadership, corporate leadership, community, and media.
The survey was jointly conducted by Singapore social research agency Blackbox Research, and Toluna, an ITWP company and leading consumer intelligence platform.
Singapore came in with an index score of 48, tying with Indonesia, and above the global average of 45. The result was attributed to an overwhelming 93% of Singaporeans who felt that the constant release of accurate information to the public had worked in managing the pandemic to their favour.
Conversely, only 25% of Singaporeans felt business leaders responded well during the Covid-19 crisis. With a global economic slowdown amid nationwide lockdowns, safeguarding employment has also become a top priority for Singaporeans, with job security at the top of their list of things they feel businesses should be doing more of. Singaporeans also rank third globally in expecting job security from companies amid the crisis.
China, with an index score of 85, topped the list. Vietnam came in second at 77, followed by a tie between the United Arab Emirates and India at 59.
New Zealand, with an index score of 56, is the only Western country with an index score higher than the global average, which indicated that citizens in Western countries are generally less satisfied with their countries’ performances.
On the other end, Japan came in last at 16, due to perceived poor political performance and business leadership, as well as lacklustre community performance.
Hong Kong and South Korea didn’t fare much better with index scores of 27 and 31 respectively.
David Black, founder and CEO of Blackbox Research, said that Singapore’s positive score reflects the country’s aggressive but phased COVID-19 strategy, which is supported by the government’s continuous efforts to maintain communication through regular updates with the public.
He added, “Singapore’s COVID-19 response has been driven by aggressive testing, meticulous contact tracing and strict isolation, which has instilled a great amount of confidence in majority of its citizens”.
