Over 88% Indians Know at Least One Covid Infected Person: Survey

NEW DELHI:
With over nine million coronavirus cases in India, 88 per cent citizens now have one or more contacts in their social network who have had the viral disease, a survey revealed on Wednesday.

India’s caseload went past 92 lakh with 44,376 new cases reported in a day, while the number of recoveries surged to 86.42 lakh, according to the Union Health Ministry data.

To understand the extent of spread bottoms up, LocalCircles conducted a survey which received more than 9,000 responses from citizens across 208 districts of India.

Of this, 66 per cent respondents were men while 34 per cent respondents were women. It received 58 per cent responses from tier 1, 23 per cent from tier 2, and 18 per cent were from tier 3, 4 and rural districts.

The survey asked, “How has Covid-19 impacted your social network (family, extended family, friends, colleagues, neighbours, business associates, etc.), including yourself in the last 8 months?” responses from 9,171 citizens were received.

Of which, 28 per cent said they know 5-10 individuals, 26 per cent said they know 1-4 individuals, 19 per cent said they know more than 20 individuals, 13 per cent said they know 11-20 individuals in their network who have had Covid-19.

Notably, 88 per cent citizens now have one or more contacts in their social network who have had Covid-19. In a similar survey published in September, the percentage stood at 77 per cent, and 31 per cent and seven per cent in July and May respective surveys.

The comparative results per these surveys indicate that in seven months there has been over 12 times jump in the number of people with Covid-19 cases in their social network.

After comparing the latest results of November with a similar survey published in September, there has been a 29 per cent rise in the number of citizens reporting five or more individuals in their social network who have had Covid-19.

With 88 per cent citizens saying that they have one or more individuals in their network, it confirms that Covid-19 continues to penetrate social networks of people at a fast pace.

LocalCircles also observed an increase in citizen posts suggesting that Covid-19 cases are continuing to increase, but many people are refraining from reporting their symptoms and getting tested.

Many instances were also reported where after one person at home tested positive, the reluctance to isolate or get admitted due to the festival season and then eventually leading to the entire family getting infected.

In such cases while only one person added to the official Covid-19 case count, 4-6 individuals actually had Covid and could have spread it even further, LocalCircles further said.