Recovery tracker: Mobility up, power generation dips as Covid cases rise

Number of flights declined; Indian Railways carried more goods, traffic on Delhi roads eased

People stepped out more often for purchases and workplace visits last week when Covid-19 cases increased in the country.

There were 16,678 cases in the last 24 hours, said a government bulletin on Monday. There were 16,135 cases a week ago.

There was a 2.4 percentage point increase in essential shopping, according to mobility data from Google, which uses anonymised location data to see how people are moving during the pandemic. Essential shopping includes grocery and pharmacy trips. There was also an increase in retail and recreation visits. More people also went to work than in the previous week.

India registered nearly 350,000 vehicles during the previous week. This is 17 per cent lower than the same period in 2019 which saw nearly 420,000 registrations. The latest weekly number shows a narrowing of the previous week’s 28.8 per cent gap.

Power generation was down 2 per cent from the previous week but generation was higher compared to 2019 levels. Power companies generated an average of 4,418 million units per day of electricity in the latest week. It was 4,509 million units per day in the previous week. In comparison, power generation was 3801 MU per day during the corresponding week in 2019.

Also Read: Data story: India logs 16,678 new Covid cases; 120,765 infections in 7 days 

The number of flights shows a declining trend. For example, there were 2,623 domestic flights on the previous Sunday. The latest Sunday number was 2,603.

Traffic congestion eased on New Delhi roads, showed data from global location technology firm TomTom International. It was 42 per cent below 2019 levels compared to the previous week’s 35 per cent gap. Mumbai traffic congestion was at 35 per cent below 2019 levels, similar to the previous week.

The Indian Railways showed higher growth than before in the quantity of goods carried. It was up 8.28 per cent in the latest week compared to 6.4 per cent previously. The amount of money it made from carrying these goods, called freight revenue, was up 22.56 per cent compared to 23.7 per cent in the previous week.

'Business Standard' tracks these indicators for a weekly picture of the economy. Official macroeconomic data is often released with a lag. Analysts globally have been tracking similar indicators. They give a sense of the economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Google data is as of Wednesday, 6th July. The traffic data is for 11th July, Monday morning 9am. All other data is as of Sunday, 10th July.