Some six in 10 people in the Netherlands now consider the government’s strategy for dealing with coronavirus to be inconsistent, according to a new survey by the public health institute RIVM.

The RIVM has been monitoring attitudes to the approach since the start of the pandemic, and the fourth survey shows mounting confusion about the measures, and reduced willingness to take them seriously.

Just 39% now say they are positive or very positive about the government’s approach in general. In April, 65% said they were positive about the official strategy.

Hygiene rules, including constant hand washing, are still being respected but social distancing is being increasingly ignored. Almost four in 10 of the 50,000 people in the survey said they had been in a busy place where it was impossible to keep 1.5 metres distance in the past week.

Coronavirus in the Netherlands: the situation from July 1

And while eight in 10 people said they considered working from home had helped in keeping the virus at bay, only 37% said it is easy to do so, and just 67% now support the government’s continued call on people to stay away from the office as much as possible.

The government has said it will review this strategy over the summer.

The perceived lack of consistency in the measures is also proving a problem. Over six in 10 people said they consider some rules to be illogical or difficult to understand and 40% say they are now less motivated to stick to the rules than they were.