Uk lockdown series#

Four in ten (43%) believe that the UK government has made good use of that advice while 28% do not. Only one in five (21%) believe that scientists and medical experts have given the government poor advice during the pandemic while 46% disagree. On balance, UK adults think that advice from scientists and experts has been good during the pandemic and that government has used it effectively. And when comparing our government to others, 42% of 16-75 year-olds say the UK government has responded well to the pandemic compared to other countries (up from 28% in July 2020), with 27% disagreeing. On the other hand 38% believe that the government has responded well to changing scientific advice (up from 27% in November 2020), while 28% say they have not. 54% of those aged 16-75 believe that the UK government’s response to the pandemic has been confused and inconsistent, but that has declined since 2020 and particularly fallen since the second lockdown in November 2020 when two-thirds (68%) said that was the case. The public are more positive about the UK government’s handling of the pandemic now than at earlier points in the pandemic.

Those aged 55+ are more likely to support measures being introduced if there was a new vaccine resistant variant: 45% would support a new national lockdown, 48% would support introducing new restrictions not previously used and 60% reintroducing previously used measures.

Opposition tends to be higher among the young: 45% of 16-34s oppose a new national lockdown and 38% oppose introducing new restrictions or reintroducing previous restrictions which have now been lifted.

Nearly half (48%) would support bringing back previous restrictions if there was a new vaccine resistant variant, though this falls to 38% supporting new restrictions not seen before, and only 34% for another national lockdown.

That rises to 78% of those aged over 55, but those aged 16-34 are more divided (39% believe it isn’t over, compared to 35% who believe it is)

58% believe the pandemic isn’t completely over.

One in six UK adults aged 16-75 (17%) feel that things are already ‘back to normal’ while over a third (37%) believe that it will be at some point in the next year, but nearly one in ten (9%) believe that things will never go back to normal.

The most common changes in people’s sleeping patterns are more disturbed sleep (25%) or sleeping fewer hours (20%). When it comes to sleep, overall around a third (32%) say the overall quality of their sleep has got worse (53% no change). Overall, a quarter (27%) say their ability to concentrate is worse than before the pandemic (58% say no change), rising to 38% of younger people (though 24% of 16-34s also say this has improved). And just over two in five of those aged 16-75 (46%) say they check social media at least once a day for news about the pandemic including 7% saying they check hourly (though this is down from 56% checking social media daily for information about the coronavirus at the start of the first lockdown in April 2020). Women are also more likely than men to feel their mental health is now worse (by 38% to 28%).Ībout a third (36%) think they have put on weight compared with before the pandemic – although almost as many (30%) say they are exercising more.ĥ0% of Britons say they are spending more time looking at screens than before the pandemic.

The youngest (16-34) are most likely to feel that their mental health has deteriorated during the pandemic, with 42% saying it had, though one in four (23%) said that it had improved. Participants were also asked to report all changes – whether or not they felt they had been caused by the pandemic.Ī third of Brits believe that their physical (32%) and mental (33%) health has got worse (half in each case say it is about the same).

Uk lockdown series#

The new study, the latest in a series that has tracked opinion since April 2020, does find though that across many of these aspects of people’s lives, a large proportion (usually slightly more or less than half) say there has been no change now compared with before the pandemic. Four in ten 16-34 year olds (39%) say they feel more lonely than before the pandemic started about two years ago. Alongside this, nearly half think they see friends and family less (46%) and leave the house less (45%) than before the pandemic began. New research by Ipsos and the Policy Institute at King’s College London finds that 3 in 10 UK adults (31%) say they are feeling lonelier now than before the pandemic (58% report no change).