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Study highlights public difficulties during lockdown
View(s):A large number of people had difficulty accessing medicines and medical services during the COVID-19 curfew, a University of Moratuwa survey has found, highlighting that suitable measures must be introduced to handle similar challenges in future.
In terms of accessing essential goods, around two-thirds of households experienced obstacles, showed the study by Prof Amal S Kumarage, Mavin De Silva and Dr H Niles Perera of the Transport and Logistics Management Department of the University.
While it had been easier to obtain perishables, dry goods and proteins, 65 percent of those surveyed said medicines had been hard to come by — along with banking (68 percent) and medical services (69 percent). And 75 percent said household repairs had been the most challenging to address.
From March 20, the Government encouraged work-from-home and allowed agricultural activity while restricting general movement of the population. The distribution of essential items and goods transport was allowed through curfew passes, later on. Nevertheless, people faced many hardships, the study found.
The research took place between April 12 and 20. Over 1,100 respondents from around the country took part in the online and email survey. It returned several noteworthy findings.
For instance, just 21 percent of the population were allowed to work from home before the pandemic. This rose to 46 percent during the curfew. But, while 35 percent of this group were found to be toiling all five days or more, the rest were largely idle owing to issues such as poor connectivity and the lack of suitable devices.
Most households were hit by the inability to travel. Those engaged in informal employment had more difficulty accessing essential items and were worst affected by the loss of income. “This could be due to lack of employment status and inability to get online services, credit etcetera, commonly associated with informal and temporary employment,” the study said.
The proportion of people using online service increased in almost all sectors. But relatively smaller gains were recorded in medical services and banking sectors because such services were already available online. The largest gains were in the purchase of dry goods, perishables and medicines where the use of online services was reported to have doubled or tripled.
There is less evidence that people would continue to use online services one month after the curfew is lifted, and even less so after one year, indicating that the increase is unlikely to be sustained under normal circumstances.
It was also found that perishables and proteins were commonly bought from street vendors. For all other items, the popular method was to visit outlets physically.
Before the pandemic, households on average stocked up around three to four days of perishables and proteins. During the curfew, this rose to between 4-5 days; in the case of dry goods, from 8-14 days; and for medicine from 13-19 days.
Respondents agreed that work-related travel, and visiting friends and relatives will be affected within the first month of the curfew being lifted. They couldn’t say what the impact would be after one year.
There was widespread agreement that public transport will be affected after one month “with a considerable shift in opinion by disagreeing or strongly disagreeing that it would remain the same after one year.” There was also a public perception that taxis and three-wheelers were as vulnerable as public transport.