New Delhi, Jul 23 (IANS): As many as 77.3 per cent of people agree that the Indian government is handling the coronavirus situation well. The reaction from people gains significance in the backdrop of the recent unprecedented daily surge in the number of Covid-19 cases.

According to the latest IANS-CVoter Covid-19 Tracker with a sample size of 1,723, where people were asked how strongly do they agree or disagree with the statement -- I think the Indian government is handling the coronavirus situation well -- a whopping 77.3 per cent agreed, while 19.1 per cent disagreed.

Out of the 77.3 per cent, 54.1 per cent strongly agreed that the Indian government is handling the Covid-19 crisis well. According to the survey, in the period between March 16 and March 31, when people were beginning to exercise caution by staying indoors to contain the outbreak of the viral infection, the confidence on the ability of the government surged.

After the first week of lockdown, April 3 onwards, people's confidence in the government surged further. This indicated that many people were confident that the government is handling the crisis well.

The survey indicates that till the middle of May, nearly 80 per cent of people strongly agreed that the Indian government is handling the coronavirus situation well.

And data indicate that between 70 and 80 per cent of people in the period from March 31 to May 15 seemed confident that the government is taking effective measures to contain the outbreak.

But the confidence of the people plunged as the Covid-19 crisis started to explode, as hundreds of cases continued to pile up on a daily basis in the last week of May. A downward trend was registered on May 12, where nearly 70 per cent people felt confident that the government is handling this crisis well, and by June 11, this came down to nearly 60 per cent.

This is the period when Covid-19 cases were piling in thousands everyday and it seemed the health crisis was having a crushing effect on the healthcare system and the overall governance in the country.

Between June 14 and July 5, nearly 50 to 60 per cent of people agreed that the Indian government is handling the coronavirus well. And finally, between July 5 and July 20, less than 60 per cent of people agreed that the Indian government is handling the coronavirus well.

According to the survey, since the beginning of June till July 20, more than 75 per cent people say that they trust the government when it comes to handling the coronavirus crisis.