Report “Consistent and widespread belief in the threat of COVID-19 to the UK economy”

Year of production: 2020

Image is illustrative. Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

The report explores how people perceive the threat of COVID-19 to their health, their finances, the economy, and the health of the population, based on a survey fielded from 30 July to 5 August 2020. Among its highlights:

  • most people still see COVID-19 as quite threatening or very threatening to the UK economy, the health of the UK population as a whole, and their personal health
  • belief in the threat of COVID-19 to the UK economy has been most widespread and most consistent
  • just 17% think that the coronavirus situation in the UK is ‘heading in the right direction’ – the lowest figure we have seen since the start of the study in mid-April 2020.

The report is the ninth Factsheet, part of the UK COVID-19 news and information project that analyses how the British public navigates information and misinformation about coronavirus and about how the government and other institutions are responding to the pandemic.

Authors

Reuters Institute

University of Oxford

Photo of Richard Fletcher
Richard Fletcher

Richard Fletcher is a Senior Research Fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and leads the Institute’s research team.

Photo of Antonis Kalogeropoulos
Antonis Kalogeropoulos

Antonis Kalogeropoulos is a Lecturer in Communication and Media at the University of Liverpool and a Research Associate of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.

Photo of Rasmus Kleis Nielsen
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen

Rasmus Kleis Nielsen is the Director of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and Professor of Political Communication at the University of Oxford.