JOHANNESBURG, Oct.22 (Xinhua) -- There is a growing COVID-19 fatigue and greater complacency in compliance with public health measures, increasing the unnecessary risk of exposure to COVID-19 during the lower lockdown levels, said a survey released on Thursday.

The survey was done by the University of Johannesburg and Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), a government think tank.

According to the researcher, the online survey was done between July and September with 87,966 respondents across the country.

"During the hard lockdown, in April, about a third (31-33 percent) believed that the threat posed by the pandemic had been overstated. By September, this had grown to 41 percent," said HSRC division executive Narnia Bohler-Muller.

The research showed that the fear for COVID-19 around April to July was ranging between 44 percent and 47 percent. During early August and September the fear declined to 31 percent.

Bohler-Muller said, "While our findings show that 65 percent of adults believe that the President is doing a good job in his handling of the Coronavirus pandemic. This has declined by 20 percentage points from our round one survey findings during level five lockdown. This is important as there is strong evidence to suggest that trust in government has an important bearing on general compliance with public health measures."

The survey showed that around 70 percent of the respondents wear a mask when going out while the proportion in early April is 37 percent. Enditem.

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