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CORONAVIRUS: OPINION AND REACTION

South Africa

6 April, 2020 INTRODUCTION

The coronavirus (Covid-19) has impacted lives of many across the world. The pandemic spread to , with the first confirmed case announced on 5 March 2020 by 1,655 Cases Minister of Health . On 15 March 2020, President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a national state of disaster with a partial travel ban, travel advisories, discouraging public transport, the closing of schools, and prohibiting gatherings of more than 100 people. On 23 March 2020, the president issued a national lockdown lasting 21 days 1,549 Active Cases from 26 March 2020 to 16 April 2020. In light of the above, Ipsos launched an online survey to monitor evolving public perceptions and behaviours in response to the coronavirus outbreak. This report presents Wave 1 results of the online research survey conducted by Ipsos to 95 Recovered Cases monitor public opinions as from the 23rd of March to the 27th March 2020 across online South Africans. Ipsos forms part of a Global network and global results were compared where possible. Coronavirus-19 online conversations and content in South Africa is included in this 11 Deaths report using the Synthesio Social Listening Platform KEY TAKE OUTS

A high level of South Africans perceive Covid-19 as a threat to themselves.

While opinion is divided on the longer term implications of trust in the government as a result of Covid-19, South Africans place their highest confidence in the World Health Organisation (WHO), in contrast to most other countries surveyed which prioritise their national health organisations.

There is little hope that the outbreak will soon be contained, and South Africans are less optimistic than most other countries surveyed that a vaccine will soon be developed.

In the interim, they are strongly supportive of initiatives to contain the spread of the virus in the country, less so to help other countries.

South African’s trust that the media has not exaggerated the extent of the outbreak and that the government has been open and transparent about the extent of the coronavirus outbreak. Traditional media channels (radio, TV and newspapers) are most trusted, whilst there is little confidence in social media networks. South Africans place their highest confidence in the information from media professionals.

Of the countries surveyed by Ipsos, South African perceptions are most aligned to those of and .

3 © Ipsos 2019 THREAT LEVELS DECLINE THE CLOSER THE PERSONAL SPHERE (THE CASE WITH ALL COUNTRIES SURVEYED). A HIGH LEVEL OF SOUTH AFRICANS PERCEIVE IT AS A THREAT TO THEMSELVES – COMPARABLE TO BRAZIL AND INDIA

97% of online South Africans are You Personally aware of the Coronavirus outbreak South Africa 48% Vietnam 62% Italy 56% What level of threat do you think the coronavirus poses India 51% to each of the following? Brazil 50% Mexico 42% France 42% 40% 94% 90% United Kingdom 35% 67% Germany 33% 53% 48% US 29% Australia 28% The world South Africa Your local Your family You Japan 26% community personally Canada 25% Very high / High threat Russia 17% 4 © Ipsos 2019 SOUTH AFRICANS PLACE THEIR HIGHEST CONFIDENCE IN WHO (ALIGNED TO INDIA, BRAZIL AND MEXICO), WHILST MOST OTHER COUNTRIES PRIORITIS E THEIR NATIONAL HEALTH ORGANISATIONS

How confident are you that the following are prepared and can effectively deal with the Coronavirus?

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0% South India China Mexico Brazil Vietnam Canada United US France Australia Italy Russia Germany Japan Africa Kingdom The World Health Organization National health organisations The government Businesses

Very confident / somewhat confident 5 © Ipsos 2019 THERE IS LITTLE HOPE THAT THE OUTBREAK WILL SOON BE CONTAINED, AND SOUTH AFRICANS ARE LESS OPTIMISTIC THAN MOST OTHER COUNTRIES SURVEYED THAT A VACCINE WILL SOON BE DEVELOPED

Soon develop a vaccine South Africa 62% 62% I am confident pharmaceutical Vietnam 91% companies will soon develop a India 88% vaccine or treatment for the coronavirus 18% China 88% Mexico 86% Brazil 86% Italy 25% 77% The coronavirus outbreak Russia 76% has been contained and will Australia 73% soon be over 51% US 69% Canada 68% United Kingdom 65% Completely-Somewhat Agree Completely-Somewhat Disagree France 64% Japan 54% Germany 54% 7 © Ipsos 2019 SOUTH AFRICANS ARE STRONGLY SUPPORTIVE OF INITIATIVES TO CONTAIN THE SPREAD OF THE VIRUS IN THE COUNTRY, LESS SO TO HELP OTHER COUNTRIES

To what extent, if at all, would you support or oppose each of the following measures?

Anyone travelling to and from infected countries should 95% undergo mandatory screening

Public transport systems in my country should be taking 94% precautions to prevent the further spread of coronavirus

Government should impose mandatory quarantine for 93% those who could have the infection

The government should ban any travel to and from 92% affected countries

Airlines from my country should stop flying to all high-risk 90% countries

Airlines from my country should stop flying to other 84% infected countries besides high-risk countries

The government should send doctors, materials, supplies 51% abroad to help countries affected by the virus

© Ipsos 2019 Strongly support / tend to supper SOUTH AFRICAN’S TRUST IN MEDIA (ALIGNED TO BRAZIL) AND GOVERNMENT INFORMATION PERTAINING TO THE CORONAVIRUS

Media exaggerated extent of outbreak South Africa 34% 34% India The media has exaggerated the 73% extent of the coronavirus Russia 57% outbreak. 48% Mexico 55% Australia 50% US 48% Vietnam 47% The government of South Africa 59% has been open and transparent Japan 42% about the extent of the United Kingdom 37% coronavirus outbreak 27% Brazil 35% Canada 31% China 30% Completely-Somewhat Agree Completely-Somewhat Disagree Germany 24% Italy 23% France 16% See methodology© Ipsos 2019 notes for full description of the data collection specifications © Ipsos South Africa | Coronavirus Results Wave 1 | 2020 TRADITIONAL MEDIA CHANNELS ARE MOST TRUSTED, WHILST THERE IS LITTLE CONFIDENCE IN SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORKS South Africans place high confidence in the information from medical professionals, aligned with the opinion expressed in India

How much confidence, if any, do you have in the accuracy Medical professionals of these sources of information on the coronavirus? South Africa 77% Vietnam 89% Medical professionals 89% (doctors & nurses) China 88%

Radio 85% India 84% Italy 67% Television 85% Canada 66%

Newspapers 78% United Kingdom 56% Australia 54% Government health 77% officials Germany 50%

The internet 69% France 49% US 44% Friends, family and 61% colleagues Brazil 43%

Magazines 60% Mexico 40% Russia 35% Social media networks 53% Japan 33%

11 © Ipsos 2019 COVID-19 ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Ipsos South Africa

6 April, 2020

© 2020 Ipsos. All rights reserved. Contains Ipsos' Confidential and Proprietary information and may not be disclosed or reproduced without the prior written consent of Ipsos. PEAK IN SA CONVERSATION WHEN PRESIDENT CYRIL RAMAPHOSA DECLARES A NATIONAL STATE OF DISASTER ON 15 MARCH Covid-19 is a dominant focus, with authorities and economics taking a distant second.

NUMBER OF TOPICS DRIVING MENTIONS IN MARCH VOLUME

India 5.3M

80% “Coronavirus” includes: deaths, symptoms, quarantines, new cases Brazil 3.3M

SA 725K

24-Feb 02-Mar 09-Mar 16-Mar 23-Mar

“Economic” includes: general economic impact, stock prices, trading Brazil approves state of emergency on 20th March “Authorities” includes: healthcare services, local government, WHO, Chinese government Prime Minister Narendra announced India’s lockdown on the 24 March

© Ipsos 2019 ‒

INTERACTIONS DRIVEN BY GOVERNMENTS RESPONSE TO THE PANDEMIC, AS NEWS 24 EMERGES AS SA TOP INFLUENCER

Ramaphosa announces the impact Department of Health announces on the economy is going to be new measures to reduce the Lockdown commences quite devastating spread of Covid-19

Total Interactions Total Interactions Total Interactions 17/03 – 18/03 24/03 – 25/03 29/03 – 30/03 Total Total Total 125.2KInteractions 186.3KInteractions 147.1KInteractions

General Economic Impact: Healthcare Services: Quarantines: Outstanding Uncommon increase in Unusual spike in increase (1773%) in interactions (2354% interactions (3051% interactions at end of March increase from previous day) increase from previous day)

Top 3 INFLUENCERS 4,069,789,321 by impressions 1,098,468,430 983,116,538 impressions impressions impressions ‒

DEATH RATES DOMINATE ONLINE INTEREST, WHILE THE TOPICS OF QUARANTINE, ECONOMIC IMPACT AND SYMPTOMS DECLINE YOU TUBE HAS THE MOST POLARISED SENTIMENT WHILST INSTAGRAM TENDS TO BE MORE POSITIVE. SOUTH AFRICANS SEEM TO BE KEEPING POSITIVE IN THEIR EMOJIS…

Negative Positive TOP EMOJIS YouTube 22% 58% 20%

Instagram 11% 71% 18%

Institution, government 6% 85% 9% + 13 000

Twitter 13% 78% 8% Facebook 15% 77% 8% + 10 000 Forum 23% 72% 5% Blog 8% 91% 1% + 6 000 TV, radio 8% 91% 1% Regional newspaper 9% 90% 1% + 5 000 National newspaper 11% 88% 1%

General news, Magazine 11% 88% 1% + 4 000

Professional news, Industry news 6% 94% 0%

News agency 4% 96% 0%

16 ‒ ‒

…WITH THE MOST SHARED / LIKED POSTS ABOUT COVID POKE FUN AT LOCKDOWN / MASKS / ENFORCEMENT

Viral is defined by a high amount of likes, comments & views, also by a large amount of potential reach (relating to the number of followers from original post) TECHNICAL NOTE

These are the findings of the Ipsos Coronavirus SAR China, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, points for countries where the sample is 500+. For public perceptions and behavioral responses survey Poland, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and more information on the Ipsos use of credibility (2020). The South African poll comprised of 1,008 United States). intervals, please visit the Ipsos website interviews conducted via the Ipsos online panel (www.Ipsos.com). Brazil, Chile, Colombia, China, India, Malaysia, between the 25th and the 30th of March 2020. Mexico, Peru, Philippines, Romania, Russia, Saudi The results were weighted and projected to South Arabia, South Africa, and Turkey produce a national Africans who have access to the internet–either at sample that is more urban & educated, and with home and/or on their mobile phones. Individuals who higher incomes than their fellow citizens. only have internet access at work or at a public This study did not have any external We refer to these respondents as “Upper Deck facility have been excluded. The South African Consumer Citizens”. They are not nationally sponsors or partners. It was sample is more urban, more educated and/or more representative of their country. initiated and run by Ipsos with the affluent than the general population and should be intention to share our Where results do not sum to 100 or the ‘difference’ viewed as reflecting the views of the more understanding about the world we “connected” segment of the population. The data is appears to be +-1 more/less than the actual, this may live in and how citizens around the weighted so that the sample composition best reflects be due to computer rounding, multiple responses or the demographic profile of the adult population the exclusion of don't knows or not stated responses. globe think and feel about their according to the most recent census data. world. Sample surveys and polls may be subject to other The survey is conducted in 32 countries around the sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage world with Approximately 1000 individuals in each error, and measurement error. The precision of Ipsos country aged 16-74. 18 of the 32 countries surveyed online surveys is measured using a Bayesian online generate nationally representative samples in Credibility Interval. Here, the poll has a credibility their countries (Argentina, Australia, Belgium, interval of +/-3.5 percentage points considering that Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hong Kong the sample is 1,000+. The credibility interval is +/- 4.8

© Ipsos South Africa | Coronavirus Results Wave1 ABOUT IPSOS GAME CHANGERS

Founded in France in 1975, Ipsos is now the world’s third In our world of rapid change, the need of reliable information largest market research company in the world, present in 89 to make confident decisions has never been greater. countries and employing more than 18,000 people. At Ipsos we believe our clients need more than a data supplier, For over 40 years, our research professionals, analysts and they need a partner who can produce accurate and relevant scientists have built unique multi-specialist capabilities that information and turn it into actionable truth. provide powerful insights into the actions, opinions and motivations of citizens, consumers, patients, customers or This is why our passionately curious experts not only provide employees. We serve more than 5000 clients across the world the most precise measurement, but shape it to provide True with 75 business solutions. Understanding of Society, Markets and People.

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