Taiwanese have significantly reduced their use of public transport hubs and visited parks more frequently amid the COVID-19 pandemic, data released by Google showed on Friday.
The number of visits to MRT, bus and train stations on March 29 was down by 24 percent from the average number for the period between Jan. 3 and Feb. 6, the search engine’s COVID-19 Community Mobility Reports showed.
The number of visits to indoor venues, such as restaurants, cafes, shopping centers and movie theaters, fell 9 percent over the period, the data showed.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei times
However, the number of visits to outdoor locations, such as parks and beaches, increased 17 percent.
The number of grocery and pharmacy visits also increased 3 percent over the period, the report said.
Google said it has prepared similar reports on 131 countries and regions to chart movement trends to show how community mobility has changed since extensive outbreaks were reported worldwide.
The reports were created by collecting aggregated, anonymized data from users who have enabled the location history setting on their smartphones, it said.
The company does not provide the number of visits to places and has said that it does not collect personally identifiable information about users.
By providing the data, the company said it hopes to help local governments and public health officials manage the pandemic.
The reports show that activity at workplaces and shopping centers have dropped worldwide, especially in areas hardest hit by the coronavirus.
The report for Italy, which is one of the countries hardest hit by the virus, with more than 124,000 cases and 15,000 deaths, shows that retail and recreation activity fell 94 percent, grocery and pharmacy visits fell 85 percent, and trips to parks and beaches plunged 90 percent.
Activity at Italy’s transit stations fell 87 percent and activity at workplaces fell 63 percent, while residential location activity rose 24 percent as many Italians stay at home amid a nationwide lockdown.
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