Second Covid-19 wave: Traffic drops, power generation gap narrows

Sharp decline in visits to workplace, retail and recreation spots

Key weekly indicators pointed to a decline in economic activity amid a resurgence of Covid-19 cases and regional and local lockdown in crucial states such as Maharashtra.

Traffic congestion dropped in metros and the power generation gap over the pre-pandemic year narrowed.

Business Standard tracks these and other numbers such as mobility, goods carried by the Indian Railways and pollution data on a weekly basis. These help provide a current sense of activity ahead of the official macroeconomic data, which often comes with a lag. Analysts globally have been using similar high-frequency data to get a sense of the situation on the