A tale of two city-states: A comparison of the state-led vs civil society-led responses to COVID-19 in Singapore and Hong Kong

Figures & data

Figure 1. Daily number of infected cases and online survey time period.

Figure 2. Compliance with self-protective behaviour (1 = very inaccurate, 7 = very accurate). Note: t-test is statistically significant when *p < 0.1; **p < 0.05; ***p < 0.01.

Figure 3. Apple mobility data trends in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Figure 4. Trust level in public institutions, Hong Kong vs. Singapore. Note: t-test is statistically significant when *p < 0.1; **p < 0.05; ***p < 0.01.

Figure 5. GDELT news tone, Hong Kong vs. Singapore.

Figure 6. Contribution to disease containment effort (1=very insignificant, 7=very significant). Note: t-test is statistically significant when *p < 0.1; **p < 0.05; ***p < 0.01.

Table 1. Descriptive statistics of key variables of interest.

	Hong Kong		Singapore		Min	Max
	Mean	S.D.	Mean	S.D.
Aggregated self-protective behaviour	5.617	0.917	6.171	1.118	1	7
Stay home	5.119	1.657	6.127	1.432	1	7
No social gatherings	5.303	1.569	6.428	1.320	1	7
Social distancing	4.811	1.544	5.830	1.404	1	7
Inform others when feeling ill	5.927	1.212	6.023	1.489	1	7
Wash hands frequently	6.066	1.141	6.090	1.362	1	7
Wearing mask in public spaces	6.519	0.935	6.524	1.211	1	7
Trust in government	3.751	1.974	5.625	1.387	1	7
Trust in public health experts	4.637	1.275	5.765	1.195	1	7
Social mobilisation	3.980	1.681	3.480	1.869	1	7
Belief in neighbours’ contribution	5.157	1.278	5.672	1.192	1	7
Worriedness of being infected	5.114	1.321	5.619	1.235	1	7
Memory of SARS	5.762	1.240	5.322	1.436	1	7

Table 2. Descriptive statistics of control variables.

	Hong Kong		Singapore
	n	Percentage (%)	n	Percentage (%)
Age group
18–29	475	23.4	466	23.0
30–39	470	23.1	466	23.0
40–49	530	26.1	465	22.9
50–59	193	9.5	224	11.1
60 or above	366	18.0	406	20.0
Socioeconomic status
Lower class	323	16.4	86	4.5
Lower middle class	719	36.6	537	27.9
Middle class	669	34.0	1076	55.8
Upper middle class	214	10.9	200	10.4
Upper class	40	2.0	28	1.5
Gender
Female	1077	53.2	1029	50.8
Male	948	46.8	996	49.2
Education
Primary or below	24	1.2	9	0.4
Secondary	568	28.1	325	16.1
Tertiary	1154	57.0	697	34.6
Graduate school or above	277	13.7	982	48.8
Housing
Privately-owned housing	1116	57.3	544	27.5
Rental housing	308	15.8	254	12.9
Public housing	525	26.9	1178	59.6

Table 3. OLS regression models for Hong Kong.

	Dependent variable:
	Aggregate	Stay at home	No social gatherings	Social distancing	Inform others when feeling ill	Wash hands frequently	Wear a mask in public spaces
	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)	(7)
Trust in government	0.002	0.023	0.028	0.033*	−0.023	−0.017	−0.037***
	(0.011)	(0.021)	(0.020)	(0.018)	(0.015)	(0.013)	(0.011)
Trust in public health experts	0.090***	0.082***	0.087***	0.057**	0.110***	0.114***	0.094***
	(0.016)	(0.031)	(0.030)	(0.028)	(0.023)	(0.021)	(0.017)
Social mobilisation	0.038***	0.146***	−0.031	0.207***	−0.005	−0.009	−0.101***
	(0.013)	(0.025)	(0.024)	(0.022)	(0.018)	(0.016)	(0.014)
Belief in neighbours’ contribution	0.120***	0.122***	0.104***	0.128***	0.159***	0.106***	0.115***
	(0.016)	(0.031)	(0.030)	(0.028)	(0.023)	(0.021)	(0.017)
Worriedness	0.142***	0.199***	0.241***	0.207***	0.024	0.119***	0.051***
	(0.015)	(0.030)	(0.029)	(0.026)	(0.022)	(0.020)	(0.016)
Experience of SARS	0.161***	0.048	0.161***	0.089***	0.236***	0.238***	0.201***
	(0.017)	(0.033)	(0.032)	(0.029)	(0.024)	(0.022)	(0.018)
Age group (base = 18–29 years old)
30–39	−0.050	−0.345***	−0.029	−0.050	0.015	0.097	0.035
	(0.058)	(0.113)	(0.108)	(0.100)	(0.083)	(0.074)	(0.062)
40–49	−0.035	−0.376***	0.157	−0.035	0.125	−0.034	−0.037
	(0.058)	(0.113)	(0.107)	(0.099)	(0.081)	(0.074)	(0.062)
50–59	0.033	−0.381**	0.248*	0.011	0.153	0.076	0.086
	(0.077)	(0.150)	(0.144)	(0.132)	(0.109)	(0.098)	(0.082)
60 and above	0.065	−0.193	0.242**	0.187	0.160*	0.009	−0.022
	(0.067)	(0.130)	(0.123)	(0.114)	(0.093)	(0.085)	(0.071)
SES (base = lower class)
Lower middle class	0.082	0.022	0.034	0.155	0.066	0.103	0.084
	(0.059)	(0.115)	(0.109)	(0.101)	(0.083)	(0.075)	(0.063)
Middle class	0.071	0.040	−0.027	0.249**	0.113	0.052	0.007
	(0.065)	(0.127)	(0.121)	(0.112)	(0.092)	(0.083)	(0.070)
Upper middle class	0.108	0.150	−0.013	0.433***	0.098	0.124	−0.096
	(0.082)	(0.159)	(0.151)	(0.139)	(0.114)	(0.104)	(0.087)
Upper class	−0.240	0.161	0.038	0.173	−0.438**	−0.566***	−0.557***
	(0.150)	(0.291)	(0.280)	(0.258)	(0.206)	(0.195)	(0.162)
Male	0.060	0.106	0.157**	0.244***	0.024	−0.095*	−0.062
	(0.038)	(0.075)	(0.071)	(0.066)	(0.054)	(0.049)	(0.041)
Education (base = Primary or below)
Secondary	−0.020	0.161	−0.106	−0.113	−0.065	−0.148	0.163
	(0.178)	(0.346)	(0.330)	(0.304)	(0.245)	(0.226)	(0.188)
Tertiary	−0.064	0.181	−0.204	−0.059	−0.226	−0.159	0.113
	(0.178)	(0.346)	(0.329)	(0.304)	(0.244)	(0.226)	(0.188)
Graduate school or above	−0.095	0.032	−0.160	−0.205	−0.208	−0.156	0.139
	(0.182)	(0.355)	(0.338)	(0.312)	(0.251)	(0.232)	(0.193)
Housing (base = privately-owned housing)
Rental housing	0.058	0.184*	0.142	0.148	−0.001	−0.067	−0.070
	(0.055)	(0.107)	(0.102)	(0.094)	(0.077)	(0.070)	(0.058)
Public housing	0.033	0.138	0.163*	0.034	0.027	−0.052	−0.068
	(0.050)	(0.097)	(0.092)	(0.085)	(0.070)	(0.063)	(0.053)
Constant	2.667***	2.001***	2.075***	1.094***	3.169***	3.194***	4.468***
	(0.228)	(0.445)	(0.423)	(0.391)	(0.317)	(0.290)	(0.242)
Observations	1,787	1,782	1,782	1,779	1,692	1,774	1,762
R^2	0.245	0.117	0.110	0.204	0.165	0.197	0.192
Adjusted R^2	0.237	0.107	0.099	0.195	0.155	0.188	0.182
Residual Std. Error	0.801 (df = 1766)	1.556 (df = 1761)	1.482 (df = 1761)	1.368 (df = 1758)	1.097 (df = 1671)	1.015 (df = 1753)	0.846 (df = 1741)
F Statistic	28.678*** (df = 20; 1766)	11.715*** (df = 20; 1761)	10.829*** (df = 20; 1761)	22.493*** (df = 20; 1758)	16.544*** (df = 20; 1671)	21.551*** (df = 20; 1753)	20.630*** (df = 20; 1741)

Note: *p<0.1; **p<0.05; ***p<0.01.

Table 4. OLS regression models for Singapore.

	Dependent variable:
	Aggregate	Stay at home	No social gatherings	Social distancing	Inform others when feeling ill	Wash hands frequently	Wear a mask in public spaces
	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)	(7)
Trust in government	−0.016	0.007	−0.021	−0.035	−0.021	−0.008	−0.010
	(0.026)	(0.034)	(0.031)	(0.033)	(0.037)	(0.032)	(0.029)
Trust in public health experts	0.043	−0.004	0.036	0.068*	0.099**	0.027	0.032
	(0.031)	(0.040)	(0.036)	(0.039)	(0.043)	(0.037)	(0.034)
Social mobilisation	−0.047***	−0.068***	−0.110***	0.017	−0.039*	0.003	−0.085***
	(0.015)	(0.019)	(0.018)	(0.019)	(0.021)	(0.018)	(0.017)
Belief in neighbours’ contribution	0.184***	0.209***	0.217***	0.191***	0.189***	0.140***	0.157***
	(0.024)	(0.032)	(0.029)	(0.031)	(0.034)	(0.030)	(0.027)
Worriedness	0.151***	0.152***	0.132***	0.123***	0.153***	0.229***	0.121***
	(0.022)	(0.029)	(0.027)	(0.029)	(0.031)	(0.027)	(0.025)
Experience of SARS	0.032	0.063**	0.028	0.018	0.056**	0.028	0.005
	(0.020)	(0.026)	(0.024)	(0.026)	(0.028)	(0.024)	(0.023)
Age group (base = 18–29 years old)
30–39	−0.124	−0.069	−0.135	−0.272***	−0.093	−0.051	−0.135
	(0.076)	(0.098)	(0.090)	(0.097)	(0.106)	(0.092)	(0.085)
40–49	−0.138*	−0.221**	−0.117	−0.172*	−0.252**	0.019	−0.101
	(0.077)	(0.100)	(0.092)	(0.099)	(0.107)	(0.094)	(0.086)
50–59	−0.156	−0.349***	−0.104	−0.230*	−0.158	0.006	−0.096
	(0.096)	(0.124)	(0.114)	(0.123)	(0.133)	(0.117)	(0.107)
60 and above	−0.077	−0.235**	−0.044	−0.099	−0.168	0.124	−0.043
	(0.084)	(0.108)	(0.099)	(0.107)	(0.116)	(0.102)	(0.094)
SES (base = lower class)
Lower middle class	0.077	0.009	0.075	0.188	0.045	0.164	−0.084
	(0.138)	(0.181)	(0.164)	(0.176)	(0.195)	(0.168)	(0.154)
Middle class	0.093	0.031	0.011	0.252	0.155	0.173	−0.106
	(0.136)	(0.178)	(0.162)	(0.173)	(0.191)	(0.165)	(0.151)
Upper middle class	−0.070	−0.111	−0.112	0.047	−0.025	0.002	−0.242
	(0.156)	(0.203)	(0.185)	(0.198)	(0.217)	(0.189)	(0.173)
Upper class	0.013	−0.263	−0.033	0.464	0.320	0.191	−0.614**
	(0.250)	(0.323)	(0.300)	(0.318)	(0.344)	(0.303)	(0.278)
Male	0.032	0.041	0.012	0.031	0.005	0.054	0.061
	(0.053)	(0.068)	(0.062)	(0.067)	(0.073)	(0.064)	(0.059)
Education (base = Primary or below)
Secondary	−0.842*	−0.635	−0.900	−1.254**	−0.926	−0.528	−0.672
	(0.482)	(0.621)	(0.568)	(0.613)	(0.843)	(0.585)	(0.536)
Tertiary	−0.490	−0.262	−0.456	−0.979	−0.465	−0.320	−0.297
	(0.482)	(0.620)	(0.568)	(0.613)	(0.842)	(0.584)	(0.536)
Graduate school or above	−0.484	−0.195	−0.502	−0.927	−0.593	−0.212	−0.321
	(0.482)	(0.621)	(0.568)	(0.613)	(0.842)	(0.585)	(0.536)
Housing (base = privately-owned housing)
Rental housing	−0.137	−0.246**	−0.199*	0.095	−0.213*	−0.054	−0.237**
	(0.089)	(0.116)	(0.106)	(0.114)	(0.124)	(0.108)	(0.100)
Public housing	0.053	0.031	0.043	0.124	0.061	0.048	0.012
	(0.061)	(0.079)	(0.072)	(0.078)	(0.084)	(0.074)	(0.068)
Constant	4.659***	4.403***	5.208***	4.541***	4.078***	3.847***	5.634***
	(0.516)	(0.664)	(0.609)	(0.656)	(0.882)	(0.626)	(0.574)
Observations	1,711	1,703	1,702	1,698	1,650	1,710	1,700
R^2	0.116	0.092	0.108	0.078	0.089	0.092	0.084
Adjusted R^2	0.106	0.081	0.098	0.067	0.078	0.081	0.074
Residual Std. Error	1.058 (df = 1690)	1.363 (df = 1682)	1.247 (df = 1681)	1.346 (df = 1677)	1.445 (df = 1629)	1.284 (df = 1689)	1.177 (df = 1679)
F Statistic	11.104*** (df = 20; 1690)	8.471*** (df = 20; 1682)	10.193*** (df = 20; 1681)	7.099*** (df = 20; 1677)	7.983*** (df = 20; 1629)	8.580*** (df = 20; 1689)	7.742*** (df = 20; 1679)

Note: *p<0.1; **p<0.05; ***p<0.01.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.