33 percent respondents in a survey said they are hopeful that the economy will recover completely

As many as 58 percent of citizens surveyed feel confident that India is well prepared to handle the third wave of COVID-19, according to a community social media platform.

LocalCircles asked this question about the possible third wave in August-December 2021, and received 8,880 responses.

As many as 26 percent of respondents said they are highly confident. About 32 percent said they are somewhat confident and 25 percent noted that they have very little confidence. Around 13 percent said they have no confidence at all, while 4 percent did not have an opinion on the same.

"On an aggregate basis, 58 percent of citizens feel confident that India is well-prepared to handle the 3rd COVID wave in the coming months," LocalCircles said in a statement.

This is a marked shift from March 2021 when LocalCircles had asked citizens about India's ability to handle the second COVID wave. Back then, only 41 percent had shown confidence in India's ability to effectively handle the second wave.

India is still going through the second wave of the pandemic with a fear of the likely third wave emerging amid the netizens.

The survey also asked respondents on how they foresee economic recovery from the impact of COVID in the next one year. This question in the survey received 11,081 responses, of which 33 percent said they are hopeful that the economy will recover completely and surpass pre-COVID 2019-20 GDP level.

About 11 percent of the respondents said it will recover completely but not surpass pre-COVID 2019-20 level. On an aggregate basis, 3 in 4 Indians foresee India that will be able to drive significant economic recovery from COVID within the next one year before it completes 75 years of Independence, LocalCircles said.

The survey also found that confidence levels about India being able to leverage demographic dividend and create enough jobs and entrepreneurship opportunities has dropped to an all-time low.

It should be noted that to the similar question asked in the 2018 and 2019 surveys or before COVID-19 hit India, 35 percent of citizens had said they were confident about India creating a lot of new employment and entrepreneurship opportunities. This percentage declined to 31 per cent in the 2020 survey, and is currently at 26 percent.