Over 70% of people across all socio-economic groups believed that someone who contracts Covid-19 has been careless or reckless in following public health advice, according to a survey carried out by the ESRI.
The research by the Economic and Social Research Institute said fear of being blamed may be a barrier to arranging a test quickly when symptoms appear.
The survey of 1,000 adults, which was carried out in July, also found that many people believed that their close contacts would be likely to identify them as having tested positive, despite the anonymity of the contact tracing system.
Almost half of those surveyed did not know that calling their GP to discuss Covid-19 symptoms is free. Over a third of people thought they could be