Sociologists have conducted a survey among Ukrainians, during which they suggested choosing which of the allegations about the origin of coronavirus and its worldwide spread is true to a greater extent. Some 66% of respondents believe in the artificial origin of coronavirus.
The Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) in late May – early June asked respondents of the survey to choose among the following options: (1) natural occurrence and subsequently spread in the world; (2) artificial development in the laboratory, but random distribution in the world; (3) special development and deliberate distribution in the world to reduce the population and/or damage to individual countries. In addition, respondents could name their option.
Most respondents – one in three, 37% – chose the option that the coronavirus was “specially designed and intentionally distributed in the world to reduce the population and/or damage individual countries.” Another 29% chose the option that the coronavirus “was made artificially in the laboratory, but its worldwide spread was an accident.”
Only 18% chose the option that the coronavirus appeared naturally and then spread worldwide.
Respondents who chose the option of artificial origin, but accidentally distributed in the world, were asked the additional question “In which country, in your opinion, was the coronavirus artificially made?” The question was posed in an open form, that is, the respondent was not offered any answers.
“The vast majority of respondents (70%) believe that coronavirus was artificially developed in China. Another 5% called the United States, and 3% called Russia.
At the same time, respondents who chose the option “coronavirus was specially designed and intentionally distributed in the world to reduce the population and/or damage to individual countries” asked an additional question: “Who, in your opinion, is responsible for the development and intentional spread of coronavirus?” The question was also posed in an open form, that is, the respondent was not offered any answers.
“Half of the respondents (49%) found it difficult to answer the question. However, 26% believed that China was responsible for the development and deliberate distribution of coronavirus. The United States (11%) and Russia (with 2%) followed. Other answers were less common,” the information says.
KIIS conducted a CATI survey (using a computer assisted telephone interviews) based on a random sample of mobile phone numbers from May 31 to June 4, 2020. The sample is representative of the adult population (aged 18 years and older) of Ukraine. The sample does not include Russia-occupied areas in Donbas and Crimea.
During the survey, 2,000 interviews were conducted. The statistical error of the sample (with a probability of 0.95 and taking into account the design effect of 1.1) does not exceed: 2.2% for indicators close to 50%, 2.1% for indicators close to 25%, 1.4% – for indicators close to 10%.
