LocalCircles, a community social media platform, conducted a survey to understand how people plan to socialise during the upcoming festival season of Dussehra and Diwali.

The survey received over 28,000 responses from over 226 districts of India.

According to the survey report, 36 per cent of Indians look forward to socialising during the festive season, sparking fears of large-scale Covid-19 spread.

The survey also asked citizens about their plans during this festival season (Oct - Nov). In response, 3 per cent said they will attend neighbourhood events, while another 3 per cent said they will go to private get-togethers/parties that they are invited to.

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While 23 per cent said they will visit and have over close family and friends, a small portion of 7 per cent said they will do all of the above. More than half of them (51 per cent) said they will not socialise at all.

Upon being asked the primary reason why participants want to socialise even amidst the pandemic, 17 per cent said it has been a tough year socially for them/their families, and so this socialising will cheer them up. A whopping 63 per cent of participants believe they will be safe by adhering to precautions.

Ten per cent said there will be social pressure, so they must do it, while 63 per cent said they plan to take precautions and socialise so they should be all right. Five per cent said they have already been infected by Covid-19, so it is not a worry, while another 5 per cent said they remained unsure.

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This comes even after Kerala witnessed a sudden spike in the number of coronavirus cases after celebrating Onam in September. The state witnessed a spike from 4,000 cases a day to over 10,000 cases a day.

This led to the Kerala government invoking Section 144 and banning the assembly of more than five people across the state for the entire month of October.

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