One in 3 South Koreans picked the outbreak of a new disease as the biggest source of social anxiety this year, a survey showed, underscoring people‘s jitters over the new coronavirus pandemic.

The poll by Statistics Korea showed that 32.8 percent of those surveyed said they considered the outbreak of a new disease to be the biggest threat to society, sharply up 29.9 percentage points from 2.9 percent tallied two years earlier.

Regardless of sex, age, education and income levels, the emergence of a new disease was chosen as the No. 1 factor that threatens society.

The survey showed unstable economic situations ranked second with 14.9 percent, followed by crimes with 13.2 percent. (Yonhap)