As the number of infections increased, residents began visiting stores less frequently.

In the last month, people have moved less to individual objects. For example, on August 11, compared to the base period of January 3 to February 6, the attendance of retail chains decreased by 5%, and on September 11, by 9%.

According to Alexander Izgorodin, an economist at SME Finance, Google’s mobility data shows that the expectations of Lithuanian consumers remain high.

“It can be assumed that, for the moment at least, the significant increase in the number of new COVID-19 cases in Lithuania has not significantly exceeded consumer expectations and has not had a very negative impact on population mobility. “Izgorodin told BNS.

He noted that although the population began visiting stores less frequently as the number of infections increased, the movement to other facilities was even growing.

“Other segments of the mobility of the Lithuanian population do not show much drama; on the contrary, the situation is even improving,” said the economist.

He noted that the flow of people traveling on various modes of transport was even lower by 4% in August. than in the base period, and on September 11, it was already 7%. higher.

“This means that residents have been able to use public transport more actively or travel more actively, for example through airports,” Izgorodin said.

“Since Lithuania raised the COVID-19 morbidity cartel from 16 to 25 cases in mid-September, 100 thousand. I believe that in the future the flow of people towards the transit of objects will increase even more, because it is possible to travel abroad a little easier than in summer ”, he says.

At that time, on September 11, compared to August 11, the movement of people around their residential neighborhoods continued to decline. On August 11, it decreased by 1% compared to the base period, and on September 11, already by 7%.

“This means that despite the increase in COVID-19 cases compared to August 11, people are more active in offices and less at home,” Izgorodin said.

He noted that if the number of coronavirus infections continues to rise, the trend may change and more people can go back to work remotely, but currently, according to the economist, the increase in cases in Lithuania “did not scare the population too much.”

Google data shows that the mobility of people in Lithuania in the first weeks of the quarantine on March 16, compared to the base period, has decreased dramatically.

For example, in the second week of quarantine, the flow of visitors to commercial and recreational facilities was 65.1 percent. lower than at the beginning of the year, the flow of people working in offices had been cut in half.

The movement of the population to grocery stores had decreased by about 30%, in public transport – by more than 50%, at that time around residential buildings, it increased by about 20%.