Mixed feelings of people worried about being infected and seriously ill while also praising shortened quarantine measures are seen in a recent Yomiuri Shimbun poll. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will be pressed to make some difficult choices.
According to the nationwide poll conducted over the phone from Friday through Sunday, 49% of respondents say they feel somewhat worried and 17% say they are very worried. This total of 66% comes even as many people infected with the omicron variant of the novel coronavirus have shown either minor or no symptoms.
The government's decision to shorten to seven days the time people in close contact with an infected person are required to quarantine is praised by 73% of respondents, against 18% who do not feel that way.
Regarding whether the central and local governments should restrict economic activities such as the operation of restaurants and bars, 41% of respondents say they should, while 51% are against it. As for declaring a state of emergency for Tokyo and Osaka, 44% of respondents say the central government should do so, while 48% say there is no need.
As there has been a pattern of declaring a state of emergency when infections spread rapidly, respondents have seemingly come to harbor doubts as to what sorts of measures would be effective.
With public opinion appearing mixed, the central government may come under fire to some extent whether it tightens relevant measures or relaxes them.
Another worry for many people is that the spread of the omicron variant will make many functions of society difficult to maintain, with 37% of respondents saying they feel such anxiety very much, while 48% say they feel somewhat uneasy about the situation. This means a total of 85% of people polled feel some worry.
As for the government's responses to coping with the novel coronavirus, 48% of respondents praise them, down from 52% in the previous poll taken from Jan. 14 through 16. Respondents who do not praise the responses stand at 44%, up from 41%. Regarding the rollout of vaccine booster shots, 59% say it has been slow.
Accordingly, the approval rating of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's Cabinet is at 58%, down eight percentage points, while the disapproval rating has risen to 28% from 22%.
The approval rating of the Cabinet among respondents ages 70 and over, who tend to become seriously ill from COVID-19, is also at 58%, down from 70%. The approval rating among respondents with no party affiliation stands at 41%, down 13 percentage points.
As for respondents who disapprove of the Kishida Cabinet, 23% of them cite his "lack of leadership," up from 18%, and 27% say they "can't place any hope on his policies."
However, regarding the government's decision not to send any government representatives to the Beijing Winter Olympics in the light of human rights issues in China, 72% of respondents say it is appropriate, far surpassing the 17% of respondents who say it is inappropriate.
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