Nearly 9 of 10 Indians have one or more Covid-positive contacts in their network, finds survey

The LocalCircles survey, conducted across 208 districts, also finds that 60% of the people now have 5 or more Covid-positive cases in their network.

A health worker collects swab samples for the RT-PCR Covid test, at Najafgarh in New Delhi on 20 November 2020 | Representational image | ANI

New Delhi: Nearly nine out of 10 Indians now have one or more contacts in their social network, who have had Covid-19, a new survey has found. 

The survey by the LocalCircles released Wednesday also found that 60 per cent of the people now have 5 or more Covid-positive cases in their network. 

As of Wednesday, India has over 4 lakh active Covid cases and ranks second in the total number of coronavirus cases globally.

The survey was conducted across 208 districts in the country and received more than 9,000 responses, of which 66 per cent respondents were men and 34 per cent were women. As many as 58 per cent responses were received from tier 1 cities, 23 per cent from tier 2 cities and 18 per cent from tier 3 and 4 cities, along with rural districts. 

The survey asked the respondents — ‘How has Covid-19 impacted your social network (family, extended family, friends, colleagues, neighbours, business associates, etc.), including yourself in the last 8 months?’ 

As many as 28 per cent respondents said they know 5-10 individuals in their network who have been infected with coronavirus, while 26 per cent said they know 1-4 such individuals, 19 per cent said they know more than 20 such individuals and 13 per cent said they know 11-20 such individuals. 

People ‘refraining’ from reporting symptoms

The survey revealed that 88 per cent of the citizens now have one or more contacts in their social network who have suffered from the virus.

In a September survey, it was found that 77 per cent had one or more contacts of those suffering from Covid-19 in their social network, while the percentage stood at 31 per cent and 7 per cent in July and May surveys, respectively.

LocalCircles in the latest survey concluded that the comparative results based on these surveys conducted in the last 7 months indicated a 12 times jump in the number of people with Covid-positive cases in their social network. 

Comparing the latest results of November with a similar survey published in September, LocalCircles stated there has been a 29 per cent surge in the number of individuals who have 5 or more people in their social network who suffered from Covid.

The community social media platform also noted that overcrowding in markets for the festive season coupled with pollution led to a surge in Covid cases in North Indian cities. 

Further, LocalCircles noted instances of people “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 was added to the official Covid-19 case count, 4-6 individuals actually had Covid and could have spread it even further,” LocalCircles said.