Rising cases slowing recovery: Falling air flyer count, Google Mobility Index show

Economic activity across India, which had steadily recovered till the beginning of the second surge of Covid-19 earlier this year, is now witnessing a fall as represented by domestic air traffic numbers and the Google Mobility Index.

Domestic air passenger numbers on Monday were at 1.29 lakh — less than half of the peak 3.03 lakh seen on February 15, and only 30 per cent of the pre-Covid average of 4.25 lakh passengers per day.

Similarly, information sourced from Google showed that visits on April 23 to retail outlets such as restaurants, shopping centres, cinema halls, etc. were 46 per cent down compared to a pre-Covid baseline. This metric, which was at its lowest of (-) 86 per cent on April 26, 2020, had peaked at (-) 18 per cent in mid-February this year.