- Higher awareness & Proactive Government measures made Kerala #1 displaying the Highest Drop at 62% on 17th March.
- Maharashtra with highest number of COVID2019 cases, has seen a drop of 49% in footfalls
PM Narendra Modi and the Government of India’s efforts towards lockdown of many cities and states to contain the spread of the novel Coronavirus across India has proved fruitful. In the wake of this spread, most people across India have been confined to their homes.
Looking at the real time step count data collected by over 5 lakh users who are using GOQii Activity trackers. These results have indicated, the average daily step count of Indians has reduced by 51% across the country. The average has dropped from 6432 steps on 2nd March to 3146 steps on 17th March.
The data reveals that the drop in average daily step count is due to a combination of reasons such as
- The call for social distancing by the Government of India and by the State authorities to contain the spread of Coronavirus
- Fear of stepping out into crowded spaces and public transport vehicles
- Closure of all public places such as Malls, Cinema Halls, religious places of worship, Gyms etc
- Work from home
- Closure of Monuments
The drop in step count has steadily increasing after ‘India Lockdown’
Statewise Drop in Footfall
Kerala which had the first positive case on January 30, 2020 and which increased to 27 confirmed positive cases of CoronaVirus has seen a drop in its step count by 62% as on 17th March. This is a good sign. The Kerala Government has taken all possible timely measures to contain the spread of this infectious disease. The drop in step count started earlier in Kerala due to the initial cases starting from the state. Therefore the highest drop is seen in Kerala across the country. However, a lot more needs to be done by the state.
The State of Maharashtra has seen a rapid spurt in COVID-19 cases, the drop in step count in the state stands at 49%.
Statewise Drop in Footfall %
Drop in Footfall % – Across Cities
Cities in India are also seeing reduced step count. With a rapid increase in positive cases of COVID-19, Mumbai, the most urbanised and financial capital of the country and Pune have seen a fairly steep rise in decline of daily step count among the Maumbaikars and Punekars. While Mumbai has seen a steep drop of 52%, Pune has seen a decline of 49%.
Even though some of the other states do not have cases most of India seems to be taking precautions to prevent the spread of the disease. The drop seen across states, ranges from 35% to 62% as on 17th March 2019.
“The Govt of India is doing a fantastic job with PM Modi himself at the helm and overseeing that all preventive measures are being put together by the various state health authorities to contain the spread of this deadly virus. But it is also our ethical and moral obligation towards our society to curb our activities and practice social distancing. PM’s idea of declaring March 22nd as ‘Janta Curfew’ is a very good idea. While India is currently at 51%, with the janta curfew we can reach 100% lockdown. Let us all work towards this and support our Government and our doctors who are tirelessly working towards containing the spread of COVID2019,” said Vishal Gondal, Founder & CEO, GOQii.In the wake of this rapid spread of COVID2019, ‘Social Distancing’ is the buzzword and it is going to be the key phrase that is going to remain for the next few weeks to come.
Footfalls Drop in different states Table
| State | No. of COVID 19 Cases
(as on 18.03.2020 9 am) |
17th March 2020 |
| Kerala | 27 | -62% |
| Chhattisgarh | -55% | |
| Maharashtra | 42 | -49% |
| Bihar | -48% | |
| Karnataka | 11 | -48% |
| Tamil Nadu | 1 | -48% |
| Telangana | 6 | -48% |
| Uttarakhand | 1 | -48% |
| Madhya Pradesh | -47% | |
| Gujarat | -45% | |
| Punjab | 1 | -45% |
| Andhra Pradesh | 1 | -44% |
| Delhi | 10 | -44% |
| Odisha | 1 | -41% |
| Uttar Pradesh | 16 | -41% |
| West Bengal | 1 | -40% |
| Rajasthan | 4 | -36% |
| Jharkhand | -35% | |
| Haryana | 17 | -34% |
*Insufficient data for J&K