Google releases COVID-19 Community Mobility reports to measure social distancing

Google has released its COVID-19 Community Mobility Reports to help health organisations understand how social distancing and stay-at-home measures are working out and which areas continue to be busy.

These mobility reports use anonymized data from Google Maps and display a percentage point increase or decrease in visits, the official blog notes.

Between February 16-March 29, a decline of 77 per cent in Retail & Recreation category and a 22 per cent increase in Residential category has been observed in India, highlighting people are going more to their homes than cafes. These reports will initially cover 131 countries and regions.

Google stressed that no personally identifiable information is made available through these reports. The purpose behind these reports is to identify places which are busy and how public health officials can use the data to make critical decisions to flatten the curve of the pandemic.