US, Britain record worst anti-pandemic performance: poll

NEW YORK - The United States and Britain have handled the coronavirus pandemic poorly, according to a survey released last week.

Only 46 percent of Britons and 47 percent of Americans think their government has coped well with the coronavirus pandemic, far lower than Denmark with 95 percent. They're the only two countries where a minority of people said the government had done well.

The United States ranked last, with 18 percent saying that the country is more united now after the COVID-19 outbreak.

That is a full 21 percentage points below the next lowest-ranking countries. Germany and France had the second and third lowest score for feelings of unity, where 39 percent of respondents said their country was more united than before.

The United States has reported almost 6 million COVID-19 cases and more than 180,000 deaths, accounting for nearly one fourth and over one fifth of the world total respectively.

The figures come from the Pew Research Center, which interviewed 14,276 adults of 14 advanced economies by telephone from June 10 to Aug 3.