The Singapore government's plan to roll out a small Covid-19 tracking token for people to carry around has split opinion among the masses, the latest YouGov survey revealed.

The latest YouGov data showed two broad camps that Singaporeans fall into when it comes to Singapore being the first nation in the world to roll out a wearable device to track Covid-19.

Willing vs Unwilling

Some 57% are willing and 43% are unwilling to wear/ carry a tracking token.

Among the willing

Among Singaporeans who are willing, one in five (18%) are very willing, two in five (39%) are somewhat willing, a quarter (26%) are somewhat unwilling.

The very unwilling

One in six (17%) are very unwilling.

Older people okay with tokens

Those over the age of 55 are the most willing to carry a tracking token.

Those aged 35 to 44 are the least willing (61% vs. 52%).

Women more willing

Women are also more willing to carry a token than men (58% vs. 55%).

Privacy concerns top

The biggest issue Singaporeans have with the token is privacy infringement, with 58% selecting it as a concern.

This is followed by other concerns like inconvenience (43%), concerns about user-friendliness (27%), not thinking it would be effective (20%) and other reasons (2%).

Only one in seven (14%) have no concerns with the token.

55% don't trust government with data

Less than half of Singaporeans (45%) trust the government with their private data, but this differs

greatly between those who are and are not willing to wear the token.

For those who are willing to wear a token, almost two thirds (64%) trust the government with their data.

But amongst those who aren’t willing to wear one, this drops to one in five (20%).

Forego privacy? No way.

Two in five (42%) agree with the statement that they are willing to forgo privacy to help the nation

battle Covid-19.

One in five (22%) disagree and a significant amount are undecided (36%).

Again, this differs greatly between those who are willing and not willing to carry a token (62% vs. 15%).

Almost half (47%) agree with the statement that Singaporeans who have nothing to hide should not

worry about having a token.

Older Singaporeans (those aged 55 and above) are most likely to agree with this statement, while Singaporeans aged 25 to 34 are the least likely to agree (52% vs. 41%).

An online petition against the tracking device has received over 50,000 signatures so far.

This is despite the government reiterating that the token will not track one’s location.

Top photo via GovTech & Unsplash