The Covid-19 pandemic has confined close to 400 crore people to their homes worldwide, of which 130 crore are in India. The country has been under a 21-day lockdown from March 25 to April 14. By 6 pm on April 7, India reported more than 4,400 confirmed cases of coronavirus infections and 114 deaths.
With activities outside their homes halted, what exactly are Indians up to within their walls?
India Today Data Intelligence Unit (DIU) used Google trends data on various leisure-related topics for the last 90 days and found that interest in recipes reached its peak in the lockdown period.
We compared the word recipe’ with health’, Ludo’, sex tips’ and Netflix’.
Recipe’ topped the chart followed by Netflix’ and health’; then came sex tips’ and Ludo’, a popular board game in India.
Search details
Recipe-related search for dahi vada witnessed the maximum gain at 180 per cent. Queries related to coffee, especially the trending dalgona version, were also on the rise. Both coffee and panipuri witnessed 120 per cent rise in searches. Recipe-related searches for puran poli, uttapam, hummus and pancakes top the charts as well.
There was also a spike in Google search queries for Netflix, an online content streaming channel. DIU found that in the last one month, maximum Netflix-related queries were for Contagion’, a 2011 thriller based on a global virus breakout and how researchers were struggling to contain it. Contagion’ was followed by The Mask’, a 1994 action-comedy starring Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz.
Searches related to sex tips have coronavirus’ on top. Recently, coronavirus porn reportedly went viral on Pornhub.
In times of social distancing, people are also showing great enthusiasm for cybersex’, which is performed without touching any other human, via Internet messaging, video calling or wearing virtual reality equipment.
Ludo, an ancient Indian board game derived from Pachisi, too witnessed a surge in Google search. Traditionally, it has been played on a board with a cubic dice, but with people locked indoors, they are mostly searching for the Ludo app to play the game with their pals on their small screens.
Like people in other countries, Indians too are equally concerned around coronavirus. Google trends data shows people have been mostly checking for coronavirus-related updates, news, symptoms and health tips. Experts’ comments on eating habits, dos and don’ts while staying at home, and prevention tips were also searched widely.