Worried about their health, job security and how to to sustain their livelihood during the lockdown, the Covid-19 outbreak and its consequences are top-of-mind for Pakistanis.

Recently, Dawn.com conducted a non-scientific online survey to gauge reader sentiment regarding the prevalent situation. Here are the findings.

Respondent demographics

A majority of the participants — 55.1 per cent — were between the ages of 25 and 39, while 21.1pc were between 18 and 24.

The respondents were largely from Karachi, while 21.5pc were from Lahore.

Coronavirus and you

What do you consider to be your own probability of getting infected with the novel coronavirus?

• Only 10.3pc said they believed such a situation to be highly probable while 12.4pc believed otherwise

How severe do you believe contracting the novel coronavirus would be for you?

• 14.2pc thought the severity of their illness would be higher if they did manage to contract the disease

How would you rate your knowledge level on how to prevent the virus from spreading?

• More than 80pc claimed that they had sufficient knowledge on how to prevent the spread of the virus

Do you follow the recommendations from local authorities to prevent the spread of the coronavirus?

• A little over half the respondents said they religiously followed the recommendations given by local authorities

What are people worried about?

Losing someone I love to Covid-19

• Around 70pc said that losing someone to the virus was a major concern
• Only 7.3pc answered otherwise

The health system being overloaded

• 62pc said that the overburdening of the health system was a cause for concern

My own mental health

• 15.9pc said that their mental health was not something they were worried about
• More than 40pc answered otherwise

My own physical health

• More people were also concerned about physical well-being during the pandemic

Restricted liberty of movement

• 22.3pc said that restriction of movement was something they were worried out while 16.2pc said that was not a concern

Restricted access to food supplies

• Nearly 40pc said that access to food supplies was a cause for concern; almost 37pc said this was not something they were worried about

Becoming unemployed

• 30.4 said employment was something to worry about a lot while 24.7pc answered otherwise

Whats does the virus feel like?

Spreading too fast or too slow?

• Most people said that the virus seemed to be spreading fast

Fear inducing?

• The participants of the survey also admitted to "fearing" the illness with 34.9pc believing the pandemic was fear-inducing.

A media conspiracy?

• When questioned about conspiracy theories linking the virus to media hype, 23.3pc walked the middle ground while almost as many believed the outbreak to be exaggerated by the media.

Stressed out?

• 36pc answered that the outbreak was causing them distress

Who do the people trust?

TV

• Trust in TV for virus-related news was low with only 4.8pc saying they believed what was being shown

Newspapers

• Trust in news reported by newspapers was higher than that compared to TV

News sites

• The trust in news sites was slightly less than newspapers

Govt updates

• 20.7pc said they had very little faith in the updates given by government sources; 15pc answered otherwise

Social media

• Trust in social media sites was the lowest out of all in those in the category
• 51pc said they had very little faith in news shared on social media sites

How much confidence do you have in the below organisations that they can handle the novel coronavirus well?

Places of worship

• More than half of the participants — 57.2pc — believed they couldn't handle the outbreak effectively

Provincial government

• Citizens were also sceptical of the provinces' ability to tackle the situation, with 28.4pc expressing low confidence

Federal government

• 32.3pc of the participants admitted to having low confidence in the Centre's ability to handle the coronavirus outbreak
• Respondents seemed to have more confidence in the provinces' ability

Public hospitals

• 29.6pc lacked confidence in public hospitals' ability to deal with the pandemic

Private hospitals

• There was more faith in private hospitals and their ability to handle the outbreak as compared to public hospitals

Media

• Most respondents said they had little confidence in the media's abilities

Schools/universities

• There was a mixed reaction to this question, but the general trend was on the lower side, with hardly 5.8pc expressing very high confidence in the ability of educational institutions

Police

• Again, the general perception about the police was on the lower end, with the majority expressing medium to low confidence in the police's abilities

Army

• The perception regarding the army was better compared to the police with just over a quarter — 25.7pc — of the respondents expressing very high confidence