Residents staying away from most retail establishments

The latest weekly Google report shows a second successive rise in shopping visits across the UK, after First Secretary Dominic Raab warned any change to social distancing rules would risk a second peak of the coronavirus.

The tech giant uses location data from phones and other personal devices to track trends in people’s movement in the home, retail and recreation establishments, grocery stores and pharmacies, public transport hubs, and parks and green spaces.

The third of its reports, which charts the six weeks up to April 11, shows retail in North Yorkshire has seen the biggest drop-off in activity across the five non-residential categories – 83% below normal levels.

This is a bigger drop than the UK average, with footfall down 81%.

But when it comes to grocery stores and pharmacies, footfall in North Yorkshire has now only fallen by 36%.

That was the second consecutive increase in the use of grocery stores and pharmacies in the area – the previous week it stood at 45% below usual levels, following an initial drop of 48%.

All three reports are compared against a five-week period between January 3 and February 6, to establish a normal baseline.

Dominic Raab, continuing to stand in for Prime Minister Boris Johnson, said the UK has not reduced the rate of infection of Covid-19 enough to allow strict measures to be lifted.

The full results are:

○ Workplaces had seen a 54% drop, and have since further decreased to 57%

○ Trips to retail and recreation establishments had been 85% below normal, but have since increased to 83%

○ Footfall in grocery stores and pharmacies had been 45% below normal, but have since increased to 36%

○ Visits to parks and green spaces had been 48% below average, and are now 58% below

○ Visits to public transport stations had been 69% below average, but have since increased to 67%

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers – and consequently the advertising that we receive – we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you