Azerbaijanis Satisfied with Government's Efforts for Fighting Covid-19, Gallup International Reveals

The world’s longest running global polling network, Gallup International, has assessed public perception of government responses to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.

According to the results of the survey published on January 28, the vast majority or 86 percent of Azerbaijan’s residents are satisfied with the government’s efforts aimed at curbing the spread of the pandemic. Along with the Azerbaijanis, the leading supporters of the government measures for fighting Covid-19 are the residents of Vietnam (100 percent), South Korea (89 percent), and India (86 percent).

People around the world do not share a common assessment of the anti-coronavirus measures, according to Romir, an exclusive representative of Gallup International in Azerbaijan, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan. The survey found out that 54 percent of the world’s population believe that their government is successfully coping with the coronavirus pandemic, while 42 percent think otherwise. The rest 4 percent is neither optimist nor pessimist about anti-Covid 19 measures taken in their countries.

The highest level of disagreement with the state-run campaigns to tackle the spread of coronavirus was registered in Ukraine (77 percent), Bosnia and Herzegovina (75 percent), and the United States (67 percent), according to the survey results.

“For a long time, the topic of the pandemic has not left the news feeds, and with new waves of diseases, citizens are not sure that restrictive measures are beneficial. One feels tired of the new format of life, both moral and financial, which is reflected in a decrease in satisfaction with the government’s actions,” Andrey Milekhin, Vice President of Gallup International and President of Romir, commented on the study results.

As of February 4, the overall number of people infected with COVID-19 in Azerbaijan stood at 230,769. Recovery and fatality rates stood at 224,431 and 3,148 respectively. More than 2.4 million tests have been conducted in the country to date.

COVID-19 patients are treated in around 50 hospitals and clinics in Azerbaijan. More than 10 new hospitals with over 10,000 beds have been launched during the pandemic. Local doctors are assisted by the healthcare specialists invited from Turkey, Cuba, Italy, China, and Russia. The government allocated more than $2.5 billion from the state budget to help mitigate the negative outcomes of the pandemic on the people and businesses.

Azerbaijan also donated $10 million to the World Health Organization (WHO) in its global efforts aimed at fighting the deadly pandemic.

Meanwhile, 62,398 healthcare workers in Azerbaijan had received their first doses of the Chinese-made CoronaVAC vaccine as of February 2. Previously, Azerbaijan placed an order for four million doses of the CoronaVAC vaccine manufactured by the Chinese SinoVac company. The country had also joined COVAX, a campaign co-led by the vaccine alliance Gavi, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), and the World Health Organization (WHO). As part of the initiative, Azerbaijan will receive two million doses of vaccine for one million people.