First Results: NCAER’s Delhi NCR Coronavirus Telephone Survey

NCAER hosted a webinar by Sonalde Desai, Santanu Pramanik, and Dinesh Tiwari from its National Data Innovation Centre to share the results of its rapid response representative telephone survey in the Delhi NCR. The survey launched on April 3, 2020, 10 days after the lockout started was completed on April 6, 2020. The discussion attended by over 150 participants was moderated by Shekhar Shah.

Three weeks into the world’s biggest lockdown, the Coronavirus pandemic continues to pose moral, ethical and practical dilemmas for India. Epidemiologists rightly want to continue the lockdown to push out the peak and flatten the curve, buying time to prepare for peak hospitilisations with more personnel, beds and ventilators. Others are deeply concerned about the lives and livelihoods that will be lost from starvation, poverty, and other diseases, and from the destruction of farms, enterprises, and supply chains.

Policymakers are grappling with questions about how social distancing can be combined with safety nets for the vulnerable. How can the blow to informal workers and industry be softened? How do people perceive the dangers of the pandemic, and how are they adapting to the physical, social and emotional challenges of the lockdown?

To begin to answer some of these question, the NCAER National Data Innovation Centre launched its Delhi NCR Coronavirus Telephone Survey (DCVTS) to understand:

• people’s knowledge of the Coronavirus
• people’s attitudes and perceptions towards the risk of a Coronavirus infection
• preventive and control measures, especially social distancing, and the feasibility of adhering to them
• the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on people’s livelihoods, income, social life, and access to essential items
• and their support for extending the lockdown.

Round 1 of the DCVTS, completed in four days, interviewed a representative random sample of 1,750 adults in Delhi NCR comprising 31 districts in Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Haryana. The DCVTS will be repeated roughly every three weeks with the questions chosen to reflect key issues that seem important for this fast moving pandemic.

The DMAS study provides detailed background data on the DCVTS Round 1 households making possible further in-depth study of these households

• NCAER DCVTS Round 1 results and the Press Release is available on this webpage.
• Dr Santanu Pramanik from NCAER spoke with Shereen Bhan of the CNBC TV18 to discuss the results of this survey. The recording of this television interview can be viewed here.