Our aim is to assess the effects of the COVID-19 restriction measures on the mobility patterns of people in the UK. These measures are strong public health policies which came into place as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic and its potential impact on the British population and on the NHS. To do so, we analyse changes in the average levels of mobility of anonymous mobile phone users across the country at different time periods, which include the periods when the restriction measures are in place and enforced by authorities.
In early March, before restriction measures were enforced, mobility levels decreased by about 10% compared to their normal levels before the pandemic.
In the middle of March, after people were encouraged to work from home and reduce their travelling, mobility levels dropped by about 50% compared to before the pandemic.
From March 24th onwards the UK entered a state of lockdown, with only essential travelling allowed. This led to a reduction of about 70% in the mobility levels.
Mobility levels have dropped consistently in all areas across the UK after the lockdown measurements.
These results present our initial analysis of the restriction measures and their effect on mobility across the UK. This might be of interest to epidemiologist who can use this to estimate contact matrices, and to public health policy makers who have to assess the impact of their policies on the British population.
Link to the First Report: https://covid19-uk-mobility.github.io/First-report.html
Link to the Project Page: https://covid19-uk-mobility.github.io/
LInk to website page: http://www.riccardodiclemente.com/covid19uk.html