Coronavirus and the social impacts on Great Britain: 21 May 2021

This week, over the period 12 to 16 May 2021, based on adults in Great Britain:

• Compliance with measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) remained high for adults reporting handwashing when returning home (87% this week, 88% last week (5 to 9 May 2021)) and using a face covering (97% this week and last week); those maintaining social distancing with people outside their household, childcare or support bubble remained similar (78% this week, 79% last week) having fallen from 84% in the week before (28 April to 3 May 2021).

• Of adults who reported they left home in the last seven days, just over a fifth did so to eat or drink at a restaurant, bar or pub (21% this week, 23% last week); around a quarter reported shopping for things other than basic necessities (26% this week, 30% last week) and just over 1 in 10 reported visiting a hair salon or barber (12% this week, 15% last week).

• The proportion of adults meeting up indoors with someone not in their household, childcare or support bubble in the last seven days remained similar (20% this week, 19% last week) having recently increased from 10% in the week before (28 April to 3 May) as restrictions around this eased across Great Britain from late April and May 2021.

• The proportion of adults meeting up outdoors with someone not in their household, childcare or support bubble (53%) fell slightly compared with last week (57%); this proportion has been relatively stable in recent weeks having previously increased quickly as restrictions around this eased across Great Britain from late March 2021 (19% in the period 10 to 14 March 2021).

• Over 6 in 10 (62%) of working adults reported leaving home for work in the past seven days, a slight increase on last week (60%); this proportion has gradually increased since mid-February 2021 (44% in the period 10 to 14 February).

• Personal well-being levels remain relatively stable with happiness (7.0) and anxiety (3.9) unchanged from last week; levels of life satisfaction (7.0 from 7.1 last week) and feeling that things done in life are worthwhile (7.3 from 7.4 last week) decreased slightly.

• Positive sentiment towards the COVID-19 vaccine remained high; 94% of adults reported they had now either received a vaccine or would be likely to have a vaccine if offered, a slight decrease when compared with last week (95%).

• Around 7 in 10 adults reported to have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine (71% this week, 69% last week), which includes around 4 in 10 adults reporting to have received their second dose (39% this week, 33% last week).

This release contains data and indicators from a module being undertaken through the Office for National Statistics' Opinions and Lifestyle Survey to understand the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on British society.

Breakdowns by age, sex, region and country, including confidence intervals for the estimates, are contained in the Coronavirus and the social impacts on Great Britain dataset.

Where changes in results from previous weeks are presented in this bulletin, associated confidence intervals should be used to assess the statistical significance of the differences.

Positive vaccine sentiment

"Positive vaccine sentiment" refers to adults who:

• have received the vaccine
• have been offered the vaccine and are waiting to be vaccinated
• report being very or fairly likely to have the vaccine if offered

Our survey does not include adults living in care homes or other establishments so will not capture vaccinations in these settings. Because of small sample sizes, the percentage of adults who have declined the vaccine should be treated with caution.

Estimates of attitudes towards vaccination provided since 13 to 17 January 2021 should be used with caution when compared with any weeks prior to this. In the weeks prior to this, adults were asked their likelihood of having a vaccine if offered, but they were not specifically asked if they had already been offered or received a vaccine.

Sampling and weighting

In the week 12 to 16 May 2021 a sample of 5,984 households was randomly selected from those that had previously completed the Labour Market Survey.

The responding sample contained 4,127 individuals, representing a 69% response rate.

Survey weights were applied to make estimates representative of the population (based on May 2021 population estimates). Further information on the survey design and quality can be found in the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey Quality and Methodology Information.