DURBAN - Almost nine out of ten South Africans, 89 percent, who go online said they are confident in the accuracy of Covid-19 information provided by the national health authorities.
This is according to a study conducted by Ipsos, a market research company. The Covid-19 lockdown imposed on March 27 forced citizens to remain indoors forcing many to depend on the information they find online.
The statement said 85 percent of South Africans trust the news on television as sources of information. Television news enjoys a high level of confidence as a result of its visual impact and immediacy.
Ipsos said in a statement: “Confidence in the information distributed by the government can probably be attributed to the strong leading role played by the president and the cabinet since the Covid-19 outbreak."
The study also found that 77 percent of online South Africans trust the government while six in every ten, 61 percent, online South Africans went further expressing confidence in the South African government in dealing with the spread of the pandemic.
“The precision of Ipsos online polls is calculated using a credibility interval with a poll of 1,000 accurate to +/- 3.5 percentage points. Online population are those who have internet access at home or on their smartphones,” Ipsos said.
Meanwhile, information regarding Covid-19 coming from SA businesses was not viewed with the same level of confidence. Just a little more than half, 52 percent of South Africans, expressed confidence in the institutions.
Ipsos noted that as more and more businesses are taking bold steps to support communities during these difficult times, this result might change rapidly in the weeks to come.
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