1 in 5 families likely to attend weddings & engagements this season despite Covid — survey

A LocalCircles survey conducted across 239 districts found that 38% of respondents believe the risk of Covid spreading through weddings is ‘average, low or non-existent’.

Representational image | Pixabay

New Delhi: At least one in five families across the country have attended or will be attending weddings and engagements between November and December, a survey covering 239 districts has found.

This despite states having capped the total number of people allowed in weddings and other mass gatherings to 50-150 people amid the surge in Covid-19 cases across the country.

The survey — released Monday and conducted by the Delhi-based LocalCircles, a community social media platform — found that 38 per cent of people believe that the risk of Covid infection and of it spreading through weddings is “average, low or non-existent”.

LocalCircles received over 17,000 responses for the survey, of which 62 per cent were from men and 38 per cent from women. While 51 per cent of respondents were from tier 1 areas, 23 per cent were from tier 2 and 26 per cent were from tier 3, 4 and rural districts.

The survey noted that the highest number of Indian weddings take place between 16 November and 15 December. On some auspicious days during this period, around 50,000 weddings take place on a single day.

‘35% not to attend weddings’

LocalCircles asked the citizens: “What is your plan to attend engagements and weddings in person for November-December this year?” as the first question. It received 8,957 responses to this, of which 44 per cent of respondents said that they didn’t have any invitations for these two months and 35 per cent voted that even though they have been invited to attend, they won’t due to the pandemic.

The survey here concluded that while approximately 20 per cent of the people are expected to attend weddings and engagements in November and December, the actual number could be higher as weddings are family affairs and it is “likely that in many of these, multiple members of the family would be likely to attend”.

Another question read: “For the engagements and weddings that you plan to attend in the coming 3-4 weeks, what is your view on the Covid risk associated with it?” For this, 8,456 people responded. While 38 per cent believe that the risk is between average to non-existent, 57 per cent said that they will take all precautions as the risk is high.