88% Indians have 1 or more contacts in their social network who has had Covid-19: Survey

A majority of Indian citizens now have 1 or more contacts in their social network who have tested positive for Covid-19 according to a recent survey by LocalCircles.

LocalCricles conducted a survey to better understand how the pandemic has impacted citizens’ social network which includes family, extended family, friends colleagues, neighbours, business associates, etc. including themselves in the last eight months.

The survey received 9,171 responses. Out of this 88 per cent of respondents reported having 1 or more contacts in their social network who has had Covid-19. 28 per cent of people said that they know five to ten individuals who’ve suffered from the disease while 26 per cent said that they know one to four such individuals. 19 per cent of people know over 20 individuals who’ve had Covid-19 while 13 per cent said that they know 11-20 Individuals in their network who have had the disease.

The number of people with a Covid-19 case in their network has increased over 12 times in 7 months, as per the report.

In a similar survey published in September, the percentage of people having 1 or more cases in their network stood at 77 per cent. It was 31 per cent and 7 per cent in July and May, respectively.

Even as cases continue to increase, LocalCircles noted that “many people are refraining from reporting their symptoms and getting tested.”

“Many instances were also reported where after 1 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 1 person added to the official Covid-19 case count, 4-6 individuals actually had COVID and could have spread it even further,” LocalCircles said.

The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in India stood at nearly 93.93 lakh as of Sunday out of which nearly 88 lakh have recovered as per reports.