The flu wave: 41% Delhi households have 1 or more members who are currently down with flu-like symptoms

August 19, 2021, New Delhi: Many Delhi residents in the last 7 days have reported on LocalCircles that one or more members in their family are struggling with COVID-like symptoms i.e. fever, runny nose, fatigue etc. and some have been checking with the larger community about what was prevailing. Many are also getting a RT-PCR test done only to find later post doctor consultation that they are COVID negative and had gotten under the influence of some kind of viral infection or seasonal flu. Doctors across hospitals are saying that 80% of such cases were seasonal flu and 20% were of Swine Flu. The COVID-19 test positivity rate in the national capital is currently less than 0.1%.

To understand the magnitude of the spread of this flu, LocalCircles conducted a survey amongst residents of Delhi which received over 15,500 responses from residents across 11 districts. 66% of the respondents were men while 34% were women.

The flu wave: 41% Delhi households have 1 or more members who are currently down with flu-like symptoms

The question in the survey asked residents of Delhi about the number of individuals in their household currently with 1 or more flu symptoms like fever, runny now, cough, headache, body ache, etc. In response, 11% of Delhi’s residents said there are currently “4 or more individuals” with flu-like symptoms. Another 11% said they have “2-3 individuals” with similar symptoms. 19% said there is only “1 individual” with the symptom. The majority of Delhi’s residents surveyed said no one in their household have flu-like symptoms. On an aggregate basis, 41% of Delhi households have 1 or more members who are currently down with flu-like symptoms. This question in the survey received 15,757 responses.

The findings of the survey indicate that the situation is worrisome, with 41% of Delhi households surveyed saying that they have 1 or more members who are currently down with flu-like symptoms. The findings also indicate that 22% of Delhi households are fully impacted with it, which means all members are having such symptoms while 19% have only 1 member so far and it is likely that more members may develop symptoms in the days to come. 59% of citizens have indicated that they do not have anyone in their households with the flu-like symptoms, however, they are advised to take all precautions when using public transport, visiting public places and at workplace.

Residents of NCR cities i.e., Noida, Gurugram, Ghaziabad and Faridabad have also reported rising instances of similar COVID-like symptoms, which are being captured in the state level surveys of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

Survey Demographics

The survey received 15,500 responses from residents across 11 districts of Delhi. 66% of the respondents were men while 34% were women. The survey was conducted via LocalCircles platform and all participants were validated citizens who had to be registered with LocalCircles to participate in this survey.