36% Indians plan to socialise over this festive season, sparking fear of COVID spread
- • 10% say they will even attend private parties, neighbourhood events/fetes
- • 63% believe they will be safe by adhering to precautions
- • Need for cheer, social pressure were other reasons cited for socialising
- • COVID cases in Kerala saw a spike after Onam, spreading fears of a similar event during Durga Pooja, Dussehra & Diwali
October 9, 2020, New Delhi: The most exciting time of the year for Indians is just around the corner. October-November, popularly known as the festive months mark the starting of festivals like Navratras, Durga Pooja, Dussehra and finally Diwali. People who have been confined to the walls of their houses for the last many months due to the COVID pandemic, might now decide to step out and socialize, given the high spirits and positive sentiments that this time of the year brings with it.
LocalCircles conducted a survey to get an understanding of how people plan to socialize during the upcoming festive season. The survey received over 28,000 responses from over 226 districts of India. Per what has been indicated in the survey by people, 36% of Indians might be getting ready to socialize, sparking a fear of large scale COVID spread.
In the first question, citizens were asked how they plan to socialise during this festive season (Oct - Nov). in response, 3% said they will attend neighbourhood events, 3% said they would attend private get togethers/parties that they are invited to, 23% said they will visit and have over close family and friends, while 7% said they will do all of the above. 51% said they will not socialize at all.
36% Indians want to socialise over this festive season; 10% say they will even attend private parties, neighborhood events/fetes
This means that 36% Indians want to socialise over this festive season. The prolonged impact of Coronavirus has meant that Indians have been avoiding get-togethers, meeting extended family and crowded places, but it looks like the chains are going to be broken during the upcoming festivals.
In early September, residents of Kerala became quite careless during the Onam festival celebrations which resulted in a huge surge in coronavirus cases rising from 4,000 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.
The next question asked people that despite COVID, what is the primary reason they want to socialise this festive season (Oct - Nov). 17% said it has been a tough year socially for them/their family and this will cheer them up, while 10% said there will be social pressure so they must do it. 63% said they plan to take precautions and socialise so they should be all right, and 5% said they have already had COVID-19 so it is not a worry. 5% were unsure.
63% of those who want to socialise this festive season believe they will be safe by adhering to precautions; Need for cheer, social pressure were other reasons cited for socialising
This shows that 63% of those who want to socialise this festive season believe they will be safe by adhering to precautions, while a need for cheer & social pressure were other reasons cited for why people plan to socialise.
With cases of COVID almost at the 7 million mark in India, the Ministry of Health has come out with Festive Season SOPs. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 8th launched a “Jan Andolan” for COVID-19 appropriate behaviour and said the Government will launch an action plan with region specific targeted communication in high case load districts. But at the end, it is only the people who will have to ensure they remember that during these festivities, COVID-19 is still out there and they must follow all the precautions.
Survey Demographics
Over 28,000 responses were received from consumers residing in 226 districts of India. 69% respondents were men while 31% respondents were women. 58% respondents were from tier 1, 28% from tier 2 and 14% respondents were from tier 3, 4 and rural districts. They survey was conducted via LocalCircles platform and all participants are validated citizens who had to be registered with LocalCircles to participate in this survey.
About LocalCircles
LocalCircles, India’s leading Community Social Media platform enables citizens and small businesses to escalate issues for policy and enforcement interventions and enables Government to make policies that are citizen and small business centric. LocalCircles is also India’s # 1 pollster on issues of governance, public and consumer interest. More about LocalCircles can be found on https://www.localcircles.com
Akshay Gupta - media@localcircles.com, +91-8585909866
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