Governments’ Covid-19 responses poll: Britain leads fall in global trust, Japan shows increase

People across the world’s leading economies are now more skeptical about their governments’ handling of the coronavirus pandemic, a survey published by polling firm Kantar showed on Thursday. In May, in the Group of Seven nations as a whole, 48 percent of respondents approved of how authorities had handled the pandemic, down from 50 percent in April and 54 percent in March.

The confidence slumped the most in Britain – 18 points from April to 51 percent. In the US, Canada, Germany, France and Italy, the declines ranged between two and six points. Japan was the only country to show an increase. Britain’s Covid-19 death toll has surpassed 50,000, according to Reuters.

Fifty percent of respondents across the G7 said they trusted their government to make the right decisions about the pandemic in the future, down four points from April.

Just over half said they would use a contact-tracing app to help to prevent a new wave of infections. One in three people felt uncomfortable about returning to their workplace, Kantar said. The survey of 7,012 people was conducted between May 28 and June 1.