Since the ‘Circuit Breaker’ started, there have been so many reports of people flouting the rules, such that we might get the impression that Singaporeans are irresponsible and uncontrollable, and we’ll never be able to stop the spread of Covid-19 like that.
However, you might be surprised and even relieved to know that recent data from Google Maps shows that Singaporeans in general are actually one of the most obedient when it comes to measures implemented during lockdown – what other people are calling our ‘Circuit Breaker’ – compared with citizens of other countries in the world.
Most of us has used Google Maps to find out the best way to get to a friend’s house or the hottest nasi lemak stall in town, but did you know that Google Maps also helps public health officials fight Covid-19?
It turns out that the app has piles of data on our movements that can be used to track how the general population is responding to ‘Circuit Breaker’ measures — what it calls Covid-19 Community Mobility Reports.
With this insight into movement trends, health officials can make critical decisions on how to fight against the disease.
The trends are measured across time, and can be separated into 6 type of physical spaces:
You know how when you Google for a place, the results always show the times when it’s most popular with visitors?
The data for the Covid-19 Community Mobility Reports is recorded in the same way. Google tracks the number of visits at a place and how long people stay there, and how it changes compared with a baseline.
The South American nation of Peru is actually the country with the most compliance, according to an analysis of Google’s Covid-19 Community Mobility Reports up to 26 Apr by financial services company Nomura, which was reported by Bloomberg.
However, Singapore fares well, as it was judged to have a high level of compliance after Peru, similar to New Zealand.
Surprisingly, considering how these countries and territories have been lauded for their handling of the outbreak, people in Taiwan, South Korea, Sweden and Japan were found to have moved around much more.
There are many explanations for the difference, said Nomura — for example, Taiwan and South Korea never had any ‘Circuit Breaker’-like lockdowns so unsurprisingly, people were more free to move about.
Some have managed to contain the spread of the virus — something which again applies to Taiwan and South Korea.
Other countries may have had greater numbers of people infected, which was an incentive for people to stay in even without a lockdown.
While the citizens of some countries are just less willing to heed their government’s advice — Nomura was quoted by Bloomberg as referring pointedly to Japan, saying that there is “low public adherence to regional governors’ requests to stay at home” as it has recorded one of the highest levels of movement despite a national emergency being declared.
Let’s look at how Singapore fared in all the categories compared with our nearest “competitors”, Peru and New Zealand, as well as territories that saw more movement like Taiwan and South Korea.
In retail and recreation, we can a significant drop after 7 Apr, when our ‘Circuit Breaker’ started, though there already was a slow drop since 15 Mar. It resulted in a 70% drop from the baseline.
However, in Peru, it was a whopping 95% drop, while in New Zealand it was an 88% drop. Both these countries did better than us in avoiding places like restaurants, malls and museums.
That could be because our malls and restaurants were still open for business — but for takeaway and delivery only.
In Taiwan, however, it was a measly minus 14% and in South Korea it was minus 6%.
Singapore’s essential services like supermarket and pharmacies were still open for business with safe distancing measures in place, so our drop was a relatively small one of 35%. From the graph, we can see there is a drop, but a more gradual one.
In Peru, it was a massive 96% drop, and New Zealand was more similar to us, with a 37% drop.
Taiwan saw a minute drop of 1%, while in South Korea, the movement in grocery and pharmacy outlets actually rose by 1%.
In the category of parks, Singapore did surprisingly well, with a 72% drop, despite many complaining about crowded parks during the ‘Circuit Breaker’. From the graph, we can see that the movement went down gradually from 7 Apr.
However, we didn’t do as well as Peru, which saw a 90% drop, but did better than New Zealand, which had a 69% drop. Perhaps New Zealand has a larger area of natural space for people to space out in.
Taiwan actually saw a 4% rise in movement in parks, while South Korea saw a huge 56% spike in people heading to the parks.
For transit stations, Singapore saw a 72% drop in movement, with a noticeable dip after 7 Apr, probably as many workplaces were closed or forced to work from home.
Peru again did well, with a drop of 93%, while New Zealand dropped 82%.
Taiwan dropped just 31%, while South Korea dropped 5%.
Singapore registered a workplace dip of just 52%, mainly after 7 Apr, probably because many essential services were still open.
Peru had a relatively modest drop of just 74%, while New Zealand recorded a similar drop to us — 49%.
Taiwan saw a drop of just 5%, while South Korea logged an 8% drop.
The residential category is the one where we should be in the positive region. Singapore got an only 28% increase, showing that some people were still going out to do stuff during the ‘Circuit Breaker’.
However, we weren’t far off from Peru, at a 34% rise, while New Zealand saw a 20% rise.
Taiwan’s residential mobility increased by 6%, which meant that people stayed at home more, but not by much. In South Korea, it went up by just 3%.
Going by the data furnished by Google Maps, it seems that we’re not so bad in complying with ‘Circuit Breaker’ measures after all — when we compare ourselves with other countries.
But instead of rejoicing, we shouldn’t be complacent. We can always do better, and stay at home unless absolutely necessary.
Until 1 Jun rolls around, let’s try to be more like Peru!
Featured image adapted from Facebook.
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