Google COVID-19 Community Mobility report: Indians are staying home during the lockdown

The coronavirus pandemic has led to a vast majority of people around the world stay at home and isolate themselves to avoid getting infected. India, too, is maintaining the practice of social distancing and has been under a nationwide lockdown since March 25.

Search engine giant Google has released a data set that reveals the difference in mobility trends in certain types of areas before and after the lockdown.

The Mobility report for India shows that, until April 26, places that fall under the retail and recreation category witnessed a decline of 86 percent in terms of footfall. These include places like restaurants, cafes, shopping centres, theme parks, museums, libraries, and movie theatres.

The results were obvious as the government has ordered shopping malls and other crowded spaces to remain shut until further notice to avoid the spread of coronavirus. National Parks, beaches, and public gardens also witness a 68 percent fall in mobility since March 15.

Among the worst-hit were public transport services, and the Google Community Report suggests that there has been a 66 percent decline in footfall between March 15 and April 26 across India. Several government transport services like buses are functioning in limited numbers to ferry essential workers.

Furthermore, nearly a 41 percent decline has been witnessed in footfalls for places at work. As many people are working from home, while the remaining stay isolated indoors, Google reported a surge of 22 percent in residential spaces.

Surprisingly, Google recorded a 51 percent drop in areas like grocery markets, food warehouses, farmers markets, speciality food shops, drug stores, and pharmacies. These places have been allowed to remain open for providing essential items while following social distancing.

The Community Mobility Report aims at providing insights into what has changed in response to policies aimed at combating COVID-19. The reports chart movement trends over time by geography, across different categories of places such as retail and recreation, groceries and pharmacies, parks, transit stations, workplaces, and residential.

Each Community Mobility Report dataset is presented by location and highlights the percent change in visits to places like grocery stores and parks within a geographic area.

A detailed category-wise data set of all the states and union territories can be checked here.