One in four Australians working fewer hours amid COVID-19 crisis: survey

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has revealed how the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis has affected the everyday lives of Australians.

The ABS on Monday released the results of its first Household Impacts of COVID-19 Survey.

It found that 24 percent of Australians aged 18 and over with a job in the first week of April were working less hours than usual as a result of the pandemic, while only 12 percent were working more.

More than 50 percent of Australians have changed or canceled travel plans during March because of the virus.

A vast majority of respondents have been adhering to public health guidelines introduced by governments to prevent the spread of the virus but 68 percent said they were still concerned or very concerned about their health at the start of April.

"The majority of Australians are adhering to public health guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID-19 with 98 percent practicing social distancing and 88 percent avoiding public spaces and events," Michelle Marquardt, ABS Program Manager for Household Surveys, said in a statement.

"We also found that one in six Australians are wearing a face mask (17 percent) as one of their preventative measures."

Additionally, 2.2 million Australians over the age of 18 have already had an influenza vaccination with another 12.2 million intending to do so.

However, because of high demand there have been shortages of the vaccination across the country.

Minister for Health Greg Hunt said on Sunday that the government has acquired an additional 3 million vaccination shots but conceded that more would be needed to meet demand.