Coronavirus massively disrupts mobility patterns in Pakistan, reveals Google  

• Google has identified the changes in mobility patterns in some 131 countries and regions including Pakistan occurred over a month's time period.
• The reports are prepared to provide insights into what has changed in response to work from home, shelter in place, and other policies aimed at flattening the curve of this pandemic.

Mobility patterns in Pakistan have changed drastically in a matter of days in wake of the coronavirus pandemic, as per the data released by Google on Friday.

The search engine released the COVID-19 Community Mobility Reports to provide insights into what has changed in response to work from home, shelter in place, and other policies aimed at flattening the curve of this pandemic.

Using aggregated, anonymized data to chart movement trends over time by geography, across different high-level categories of places such as retail and recreation, groceries and pharmacies, parks, transit stations, workplaces, and residential. Google has identified the changes in mobility patterns in some 131 countries and regions including Pakistan occurred over a month's time period.

What Google has found in Pakistan was that till March 29, 2020 mobility trends in Pakistan for retail and recreation purposes were down massively by 70 percent compared to baseline.  Whereas, mobility trends in the country going out for grocery and medicines was down 55pc compared to baseline.

Going into the parks too decreased in Pakistan, with mobility trends for places like national parks, public beaches, marinas, dog parks, plazas, and public gardens decreased by 45pc compared to the baseline.

Meanwhile, as provincial lockdowns were in place by the government, mobility trends for places like public transport hubs such as subway, bus, and train stations was down by 62pc compared to baseline.

Fewer Pakistanis also went out for work as well the Google data showed, as mobility trends for places of work declined by 41pc compared to the baseline. However, the opposite trend was witnessed in mobility trends for places of residence with 18pc rise as compared to baseline, as Pakistanis rushed to stay indoors to protect themselves from the mysterious virus.

Google says that the reports show trends over several weeks, with the most recent information representing 48-to-72 hours prior.