Study finds most people obey lockdown rules

A MAJORITY of South Africans are adhering to national lockdown regulations, according to a recently released study.

This was the first result from the collaboration of the Human Sciences Research Council and the University of KwaZulu-Natal in investigating behavioural patterns from people amid the Covid-19 outbreak.

“The study sought to mine data that will lead to a context-specific health and wellbeing framework required to address individual, family, community and society at large at primary prevention, early detection and patient care levels as well as long-term mitigation of the impact of the pandemic,” said the HSRC in a statement.

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The study was made up of 19 330 participants from all nine provinces with varied ages, ethnicities, economic backgrounds and communities.

It found that 99 per cent of the participants stayed at home during lockdown and only went out to buy food and other essential items.

It also reported that 29 per cent of the participants made contact with more than 10 people with 15 per cent saying they had to use public transport to get to the shops.

Worryingly, more than half (55 per cent) of informal settlement residents had no money for food.

“The research that will be presented  confirms many conclusions that were already factored into South Africa’s Covid-19 response strategy but like all good social science research, it has helped to quantify the extent of the challenge and provide a more nuanced way of understanding the challenge,” said Dr Blade Nzimande, Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology.

The HRSC and UKZN are busy working on another survey, focusing on healthcare workers.

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