Only one in 10 expect to live as they did before

ONLY ONE in 10 people plan to return to living exactly as they did before Covid- 19 after the pandemic ends, researchers have found.

The ongoing Covid- 19 social study by University College London ( UCL) found just over half of people said they were more likely on balance to return to how things were before lockdown.

However, a fifth ( 22 per cent) of respondents felt they were more likely to change things, which rose to around a quarter for those aged 30- 59 ( 25 per cent) and for those with a diagnosed mental illness ( 26 per cent).

Launched in the week before lockdown began, the research by UCL is the UK’s largest study into how adults are feeling about lockdown, government advice and overall wellbeing and mental health, with more than 70,000 participants in the last 23 weeks.

One factor that people were most likely to change was increasing their support for local businesses ( 40 per cent), with around a third of people also saying they would save more money ( 33 per cent), exercise more ( 35 per cent) or make more use of online shopping ( 33 per cent).

A quarter of adults planned to work from home more, which increased to 29 per cent for 1829 year- olds and 32 per cent for those aged between 30- 59.

Researchers found 26 per cent of people across all age groups wanted to spend more time with family outside of their homes or holiday more in the UK.

Around 16 per cent of people aged over 60 said they would return to living exactly as they had before, more than double ( seven per cent) compared to the population below that age. Just under a fifth of people aged 18- 29 expressed a desire to find a new romantic relationship once the pandemic is over.

Lead author Dr Daisy Fancourt said: “Our study shows that during lockdown many peoples’ priorities have changed, with a substantial number of people expressing a desire to change parts of their life and routine once the pandemic is over.”