Recovery tracker: Workplace attendance continues to rise despite Omicron

Drop in retail and recreation visits, essential shopping

The number of people going to work continued to increase after the Omicron announcement.

The seven-day moving average of workplace visits in India was within 2.9 per cent of pre-Covid times for the latest week. It was 5.9 below pre-Covid times on November 25, when the new Covid-19 variant was announced to the world. The numbers are based on anonymised location data from search engine giant Google. It tracks visits to various categories of places as a way of keeping track of how people are moving during the pandemic. The numbers are released with a lag. The latest is as of December 2 (see chart 1).

Traffic congestion was also higher in major cities, shows data from global location technology firm TomTom International. It was 29 per cent below normal in Mumbai (35 per cent in the previous week). It was 17 per cent below normal in New Delhi (22 per cent in the previous week). Both numbers are the highest since October (see chart 2).  

Power generation was marginally down from the output a week before. The power utilities across the country generated 3,430 million units of electricity on average per day during the latest week ended (based on reporting day numbers) down 2.5 per cent from 3,519 MUs a week ago. The power generation last week was however 5.9 per cent higher than in the  corresponding week in 2019 but unchanged from  generation in the corresponding week in 2020.

Business Standard also tracks emissions of nitrogen dioxide. It comes from industrial activity and vehicles.  Higher levels can point to increased economic activity. Emissions in Delhi were six per cent higher than in 2019. This is lower than the previous week. Mumbai emissions too remained muted (see charts 4,5).

The growth in goods that the Indian Railways carried was slower than the previous week. It came in at 4.7 per cent compared to 6.3 per cent in the previous week. The money it made from the goods carried also showed slower growth. Freight revenue growth was 6.2 per cent compared to 8.9 per cent previously (see chart 6).

Business Standard tracks these weekly economic indicators to get a more current picture on how the economy is doing. Authorities often release official macroeconomic data with a lag. Analysts globally have been tracking similar indicators to get a sense of the situation on the ground, as different countries implemented lockdowns and other restrictions to control the Covid-19 pandemic. The Google data is released with a lag. The latest is as of December 2. All other data is as of Sunday, December 5.