COVID-19: Mumbai emerges as best performing city in mask-wearing

In a good news, according to a survey by Digital India Foundation (DIF), a think-tank working on digital inclusion, Mumbai has emerged as best performing city with a 76.28 per cent mask adherence.

Meanwhile, about 50 per cent of people in Chandigarh, Raipur, Guwahati and Kolkata are not masked up, as opposed to people in Mumbai.

The foundation conducted a mask adherence study among different age groups at public places across 11 cities - Mumbai, Pune Kolkata, Hyderabad, Jammu, Delhi, Guwahati, Raipur, Chandigarh, Shimla and Chennai.

The data was collected between November 23 and December 21, 2021, with a total sample size of 10,841.

After Mumbai, Hyderabad has the highest proportion of fully masked at 45.75 percent and Shimla and Kolkata at 40.59 per cent and 40.55 per cent.

In Delhi, around 45.59 percent of the population remain unmasked and 38.25 percent fully masked.

Jammu (39.40 per cent adherence), Kolkata (40.55 per cent), Chennai (38.90 per cent) and Guwahati (38.83 per cent) were the other cities covered by the study.

According to the study, over 36 percent of non-mask wearing participants argued that the virus is not a threat, while another 26 per cent said they feel irritated or suffocated by masks.

Even as cloth masks are said to be ineffective in preventing COVID-19 infections, Mumbaikars also prefer cloth masks over other types. Experts stated that N95 masks are better at prevention.

Women in the city were also better at mask-wearing than their male counterparts. Mumbai has 47 per cent women who wear masks, and 31 per cent men. A similar pattern is observed in all cities.

For the study, the sample size was assigned based on the size of the city and caseload during the second wave of Covid-19.

The sample size in metro cities like Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai was 1,500, while it was 1,000 in tier-2 cities such as Chandigarh, Hyderabad and Chennai. In small cities like Jammu, Shimla and Guwahati, the sample size was 500.

Mask adherence was classified under three categories: Fully masked (wearing masks correctly), partially masked (wearing masks below the nose) and no mask (without a mask or wearing it below the mouth).