COVID-19: services considered essential by consumers in the UK 2020

National lockdown measures announced by the UK government on March 23, 2020 halted all but "essential businesses" in an effort to reduce the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19). According to the results of a recent survey conducted with UK adults, in addition to supermarkets which were considered essential by 98 respondents, cornershops/newsagents were regarded as essential businesses by 80 percent of those who took part in the survey. Of other retail shops, sports equipment stores and garden centers were largely considered non-essential during the COVID-19 crisis lockdown.

For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Fact and Figures page.

Share of services considered "essential" during the COVID-19 (coronavirus) crisis among consumers in the United Kingdom (UK)*

Characteristic	Essential service	Don't know	Non-essential services
-	-	-	-
-	-	-	-
-	-	-	-
-	-	-	-
-	-	-	-
-	-	-	-
-	-	-	-
-	-	-	-
-	-	-	-

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Release date

April 2020

More information

Region

United Kingdom

Survey time period

April 3-6, 2020

Number of respondents

2,088 respondents

Supplementary notes

* This question was phrased by the source as follows: "The British government has asked all businesses that do not provide essential services to close their workplaces for the duration of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in the UK. Do you consider each of the following businesses to provide essential or non-essential services? "

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