Ottawa, Mar 11 (IANS): A new poll has revealed that more than half of Canadians, or 54 per cent, said they had a close friend or family member who was infected with Covid-19 in the past two years.

The online poll, carried out by the Angus Reid Institute and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, surveyed a representative randomised sample of 2,550 Canadians aged 18 and over between March 1 to 4 of this year on the occasion of the two-year anniversary of the World Health Organization declaring the global Covid-19 outbreaks as a pandemic, reports Xinhua news agency.

The poll, published on Thursday, revealed that an overwhelming majority (82 per cent) believed the pandemic had pulled people apart as opposed to bringing them together (18 per cent).

About the same number (79 per cent) said this period had brought out the worst, not the best (21 per cent) in people.

Nearly two-thirds (61 percent) said Canadians' level of compassion for one another had weakened.

Despite the developments and lessons in the last 24 months, Canadians were jaded about how well this country was equipped to handle a future pandemic, said the poll.

Most (70 per cent) believed Canada would "struggle just as much" in the next pandemic, while fewer than half that number (30 per cent) said the nation was in "good shape" to handle something similar happening again.

Seven-in-ten Canadians (72 per cent) postponed travel at some point during the past two years, while 48 per cent delayed medical appointments, and 26 per cent others post-poned a more serious medical procedure or surgery, according to the key findings of the survey.

Canada, with a population of 37 million, has so far registered 3,349,193 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 37,222 deaths.