THE movement of County Durham residents over the past year has revealed a day by day look at how people have responded - and continue to respond - to the Covid pandemic.

Whether or not County Durham residents have been following Covid guidelines has been revealed in a daily breakdown of where people have travelled to since February last year. 

Google data shows how visits to places, such as corner shops, workplaces and parks, are changing across the world - including in the North-East. 

The tech giant started releasing the location data in April last year to help public health officials track how people are responding to lockdowns during the pandemic, giving an in-depth look at whether people have stuck to Covid rules as they change. 

Using a baseline from before the pandemic, which is the median value for the same day of the week during the five-week period January 3 to 6 February 6.

It shows trends for six categories: retail and recreation, supermarket and pharmacy, parks, public transport, workplaces and residential. 

County Durham residents are staying home 10 per cent more than this time last year, though this is less than the beginning of the pandemic. 

Differences in mobility fluctuate through the year, reflecting changing rules for County Durham residents. The most recent report, using data from February 15, 2020, up to January 17, 2021, reflects the third national lockdown.

The North-East was previously placed under Tier 4 restrictions, where people were also only allowed to leave home for essential reasons.

More people stayed home on April 10, and New Year's Day, January 1, 2021, compared to any other day during the pandemic with a 30 per cent increase compared to the baseline.  

Christmas Day saw a 25 per cent increase in people staying home - a figure much higher than that of the current lockdown. 

In August, when restrictions eased and the 'Eat out to Help Out' scheme was launched, some days saw an increase in residential activity of just 3 per cent. 

August 9, a sunny day for the region, saw the return of near pre-Covid levels meaning people were not staying home as activity fell to just 1 per cent above the baseline. 

The same day, parks saw a 110 per cent increase in activity. This day shares tenth-place when it comes to the busiest day for parks, with June 25 coming in top after seeing a huge 187 per cent increase in activity compared to the baseline. 

Meanwhile, on Halloween, 11 per cent more people in County Durham were heading to retail shops and recreational sites despite the county, alongside other areas in the North-East, being under local lockdown restrictions.

This was the most active day for retail and recreation locations, with movement generally being low throughout the pandemic.

In on Christmas Eve, there were fewer people at these locations than any other day since Covid took hold country.

This is not the case, however, for grocery stores and supermarkets, which saw a busy day on December 23, with a 33 per cent increase in activity compared to the baseline likely due to people preparing for Christmas. 

People were, and currently are, allowed to visit parks and shops for exercise and essential reasons, but businesses were told to have employees work from home where possible - and they have listened. 

The data reveals that even on September 13, the busiest day for workplaces after the first lockdown announcement, activity was still 4 per cent below the baseline.

Boris Johnson told the country that people ‘must’ stay at home and certain businesses must close on March 23, but the quietest day for workplaces so far was April 13, with 87 per cent less activity. 

Take a look below at how people across County Durham have responded to Covid restrictions through the pandemic, with 0 being the baseline: