Assessment of the COVID-19 pandemic situation: Data from two countries with different security measures taken by authorities (Belarus and Russia)

The article presents the data on the evaluation of COVID-19 situation by adult respondents (age from 18 to 76) coming from countries with the common past, language and similar mentality but differing in governmental security measures during pandemic spring outbreak (no precautionary measures in Belarus (N = 267); lockdown and financial support in Russia (N = 397)). The data was collected via online survey platform (Google forms) from 2020.04.11 to 2020.06.04 (during the period of lock-down in Russia). The data contains socio-demographical information (sex, age, country of citizenship), survey answers and the results of standardized psychological tests (to measure dangerous and threatening social world view and hardiness). The survey consists of four blocks: specific impact of the COVID-19 situation on various aspects of respondents’ life; estimation of different fears; estimation of various aspects of COVID-19 situation, and estimation of personal resources. All the items require participants to rate them on a 11-point Likert scale from 0 (totally disagree, absolutely no fear or no impact) to 10 (totally agree, the strongest fear or impact). Descriptive statistics as well as the comparison results are given. The data may be used to investigate the influence of lockdown, social distancing, and isolation on psychological well-being as well as the impact of personal resources in psychological well-being in stressful situations.