Is lockdown working in India and other 131 nations? Google Data answers

New Delhi : Google on Friday released a mobility report showcasing the impact of lockdown and the impact of social distancing measures taken by governments around the world, including India. The company used data provided from its users. 

Amid the growing coronavirus scare, several countries have imposed a lockdown asking their citizens to stay indoors and not visit the public spaces. 

In its report for India, the trends have been categorised in six parts including retail and recreation, groceries and pharmacies, parks, transit stations, workplaces, and residential. 

According to the data recorded by India-based Google, a significant drop has been registered among the users to places like parks, shops, restaurants, bus, metro, and railway stations. 

Google has said “COVID-19 Community Mobility Reports” highlight the effectiveness of the public health strategy of the administrations.

According to Google's report for India, there was a 77 percent decrease in visits to retails and recreational places, which includes restaurants, cafes, shopping centres, theme parks, museums, libraries, and movie theatres in India at the end of March. Similarly, visits to grocery markets and pharmacies also declined by 65 percent. 

Meanwhile, there was a drop by 57 per cent among the people visiting parks.

The trends also displayed a decrease of 71 percent in visits to public transit stations like bus stops, metro stations, and railway stations. Indians also visited less to their workplaces as there was a 47 percent dip in those visits.

The change in the percentage explains “how visits and length of stay at different places change compared to a baseline,” according to Google. 

The report analysed the visits from February 16 to March 29.