NEW data tracking people’s movements during the coronavirus lockdown has revealed that Argyll and Bute residents are largely adhering to government guidance to remain indoors.

Online search engine Google has committed to releasing regular reports to help advise medical experts on the effectiveness of social distancing measures in response to the Covid-19 outbreak.

The Community Mobility Reports “aim to provide insights into what has changed in response to policies aimed at combating” the virus and chart movement trends over time by geography, across different categories of places such as retail and recreation, groceries and pharmacies, parks, transit stations, workplaces, and residential.

The first release, covering the period from February 16 to March 29, shows that visits to retail and recreation destinations have dropped by 88 per cent in Argyll and Bute compared to a baseline median figure, slightly higher than the UK average of 85 per cent.

READ MORE: People in Helensburgh 'obeying social distancing rules', say police

Trips to grocery and pharmacy outlets have fallen by 45 per cent, while the number of people travelling to parks across the region has reduced by just over a third.

Meanwhile the number of visits to public transport hubs has fallen by 57 per cent and the number of people travelling to their place of work has decreased by 52 per cent.

The analysis is compiled using the same kind of aggregated and anonymised data collected by apps like Google Maps, - where users have turned on the ‘location history’ setting.

Google say no personally identifiable information is made available at any time

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