Indians still reluctant to step outside despite 'unlocks': Google report

Indians still seem very reluctant to freely step outside like before even after a series of unlocks and relaxations in Covid-19 restrictions were provided by the central government, shows the Community Mobility Report by Google.

Google used anonymised location data of cellphone users across the country to compare the movement at present with that of the pre-Covid days (January 3-February 3) to arrive at the conclusion.

When the unlock process began in June, movement at pharmacies and grocery stores had returned to normal, but again dropped in July and August. This may be due to a series of local lockdowns enforced by the states in view of the local pandemic situation.

The lowest movement had gone down to was below 60 per cent of the baseline during the first lockdown. Baseline refers to the mean daily movement during the corresponding day of the corresponding week of the January 3-February 3 period.

Similarly, the use of public transport or transit stations also saw a slight trend of recovery during the unlocking process, but it is far from returning to normal. There had been a huge movement of people across states but only a few chose public transports due to its rare availability. It still remains 35 per cent below the baseline, as on August 21.

Movement at workplaces saw a recovery in June but is still 30 per cent below the baseline. Visits to parks and recreational activities are well below 50 per cent even today.

Among the worst-hit states, Maharashtra seems to have recovered its movement at grocery and pharmacy stores. It was just 5 per cent below the baseline, as on August 21. The other four states – Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Uttar Pradesh – have recorded above-baseline movement at grocery and pharmacy stores, with UP topping at 23 per cent.

Movement at transit stations in these five states is slowly increasing but is far from getting back to normal. All these states have around 25 to 30 percent lesser movement except Maharashtra, which has even lower mobility at 48 per cent, or half than that of usual, as of last Friday.

Related news: Don’t restrict inter-state travel during Unlock phase: Centre to states

Though the government is taking steps towards restarting and accelerating the economy, the offices look reluctant to come back to the old ‘normal’. As many companies are opting for a work-from-home regime, the movement at workplaces has not seen much recovery in mobility.

For India, the mobility at these places is below 33 per cent than the baseline while in most states, it’s even lower than 50 per cent.