'Huge decline in outdoor activities amid COVID-19 lockdown in Pakistan'

Google data also reveals only a small percentage of people are actually staying at home despite restrictions

A huge decline in outdoor activities such as at restaurants and parks has been witnessed in Pakistan in the wake of a lockdown enforced to contain the spread of novel coronavirus in the country, Google data revealed.

However, it also showed that only a small percentage of people were actually staying at home despite the fact that most of the outdoor activities were unavailable.



According to the data, retail and recreation activities, including visits to places such as restaurants, cafes, shopping centres, theme parks, museums, libraries and movie theatres, decreased by 70 per cent.



Likewise, a 55 per cent decline was witnessed in visits to pharmacies and grocery stores. The category included visits to grocery markets, food warehouses, farmers markets, food shops, drug stores and pharmacies.



Naturally, visits to national parks, public beaches, marinas, dog parks, plazas and public gardens also decreased by 45 per cent, according to the Google user data.



Since all public transport was suspended by the government after the outbreak, a decline of 62 per cent was recorded at commute hubs, bus and train stations.



Moreover, since offices and industries were also shut down in the country, a decline of 41 per cent was witnessed in this category.



Interestingly, despite all the effort by the government, there was an 18 per cent increase in activities in the residential areas, suggesting that not many people were actually staying at home.



Earlier, Google made an announcement about publishing users' location data from around the world so that the governments could gauge the effectiveness of social distancing measures for the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Users' movement reports were compiled from 131 countries and it is available on Google's website.

Learn how we're aiming to help public health officials combat the pandemic through an early release of our COVID-19 Community Mobility Reports → https://t.co/WjIOEscoyS pic.twitter.com/ymtykxGb8S

— Google Maps (@googlemaps) April 3, 2020

“This information could help officials understand changes in essential trips that can shape recommendations on business hours or inform delivery service offerings,” Google said.