Vietnam's rising concern over personal financial impact of COVID-19

People around the world are starting to fear the impacts of COVID-19 and are taking action

An Ipsos poll conducted across 10 large countries on February 28 and 29 shows a significant increase in the number of people who believe the virus will have a personal financial impact compared to the poll conducted on February 14 and 15.

Italy saw the biggest jump with a 22-point increase – taking the number of those worried about the impact on their finances to two in five people (41 per cent). There are also double-digit increases in Canada (+20), Russia (+19), Japan (+18) the United States (+16), the United Kingdom (+16), and France (+14). Vietnam was only measured in the latest wave and tops the level of concern with 78 per cent.

When asked why the virus has reached their country, the majority in each market believe this is because it is impossible to forecast how the virus will spread, rather than due to a lack of preventative action by government authorities. Those in Germany (80 per cent) and Vietnam (71 per cent), but also in the UK (69 per cent), Canada (67 per cent), and France (63 per cent) were the strongest in their perception that the virus is impossible to forecast.

In return, the perception that the arrival of the virus is due to a lack of preventative countermeasures by authorities is lower in most countries. Japan stands out, being split between the two positions and hence the most critical about countermeasures and the least convinced it is impossible to forecast (50 per cent – 50 per cent).

The survey also shows a general rise in the proportion of those who believe the virus poses a high or very high threat to their country. France saw the biggest increase in this measure with 49 per cent, a 29-point increase from two weeks ago. Japan is ranking the highest on this measure (65 per cent) followed by Vietnam (63 per cent) while the lowest remains Canada (21 per cent).