ALTHOUGH the coronavirus pandemic is still prevailing in the country, people’s mobility has almost reached the pre-pandemic level. Bangladesh is the only country in the world that has shown positive growth in all the six indicators of the Covid-19 Community Mobility Report. The positive growth came compared to the baseline period of January last year. The report brought by Google shows how visits and lengths of stay at different places changed compared to the last year. Despite moderate contamination and fluctuating death rates things like mandatory physical distance, disinfecting places and hand-washing practice are seen less rigorous.
Google calculates these changes using the same kind of aggregated and anonymised data used to show popular times for places in Google Maps. The data set is intended to help assess the impact of Covid-19 and shows how visits to places, such as shops and parks, are changing in each geographic region. In Bangladesh, mobility trends for places such as restaurants, cafes, shopping centres, theme parks, museums, libraries, and cinemas rose 13 per cent in March compared to January. The trends for places such as supermarkets, food warehouses, farmers markets, speciality food shops and pharmacies were up 41 per cent. Mobility trends for places that are public transport hubs, such as bus and train stations, went up by 24 per cent. The visits to places of work increased 10 per cent, and that of mobility trends for places of residence went up 5 per cent.
People’s mobility increased after the government eased lockdowns in June following the enforcement of strict restrictions on the movement of people and vehicles in April and May with a view to limiting the spread of the rogue virus. The demand for train tickets returned to normalcy from January. Hotels in tourist spots go up to 70 per cent to 75 per cent on weekends. From the second half of February, it has shot up to the range of 60 per cent to 70 per cent.
Despite the resumption of economic activities, a significant number of new cases are being reported every day, and people are dying. Mobility restoration is a positive trend for the country’s economy, but health and hygiene practice should be common practice, where we have a lack of practice and enforcement. The behavioural change campaign involving all social institutions can play a positive role until complete vaccination attained.
