COVID 19 100 DAYS OF LOCKDOWNS
COVID HAS CLAIMED ABOUT 14,000 LIVES IN INDIA, WITH CASES AND FATALITIES RISING IN RECENT WEEKS. HT EXPLORES HOW THE PANDEMIC HAS SHAPED NATIONAL ISSUES SINCE MARCH 2, SEEN AS THE BEGINNING OF THE INFECTION’S FIRST WAVE IN INDIA, AND CHANGED PERSONAL LIVE
lifeinlockdown MOBILITY OF PEOPLE
Google publishes Covid-19 Community Mobility Reports for 131 countries to show how the lockdown affected the movement of people. The report uses “aggregated and anonymised data to chart movement trends over time by geography” across a range of places such as grocery stores, parks, workplaces and places of transit.
WORKPLACES
Movement at offices and workplaces dropped to its lowest in the recorded time frame touching -72% on March 25 — the day the nationwide lockdown kicked off. It averaged in the late minus 60s till the end of the second phase of the lockdown, from when it started showing a gradual recovery.
RESIDENTIAL
There was a 30% increase from baseline in mobility around residential areas on the first day of the lockdown. This remained more or less the same through the next five weeks, with the only fluctuations recorded on Sundays. Through May, however, movement around residential areas started dropping every week.
TRANSIT HUBS
When the lockdown kicked off, movement at transit hubs such as trains and metro stations dropped 73% from the baseline. In the four weeks since, it recovered slightly and continued to remain around 60% below baseline.
RETAIL AND RECREATION
There was 77% drop in movement at retail and recreational locations across the country on March 25, the first day of the lockdown. This remained low the next few weeks, hovering around 80% through April and most of May, dropping as low as -87% on April 18. Through May, however, activity started recovering slightly by the end of the fourth lockdown. In the week ending June 14, activity continued to remain low, averaging -59%.
GROCERY AND PHARMACY
There was 77% drop in movement at retail and recreational locations across the country on March 25. This remained low the next few weeks, hovering around 80% through April and most of May, dropping as low as -87% on April 18. Through May, however, activity started recovering slightly by the end of the fourth lockdown. In the week ending June 14, activity continued to remain low, averaging -59%.
PARKS
This was one of the fields studied in the report that has shown the least recovery. On May 25, data shows that 54% fewer people were logged in and around parks across the country. This went on to drop to as much as -68% by the end of March. And though it since recovered slightly, movement at parks remained -56% on June 14 – the latest day for which data is available.