‘Homemade alcohol’ among top Google searches in Mpumalanga and Free State
We take a look at South Africans’ desperate search for alcohol as it reflects in the numbers.
Regularly drinking more than 100 grammes (3.5 ounces) of alcohol per week — about five or six medium glasses of wine or pints of beer — was linked to a shorter life expectancy for men and women, according to research published in The Lancet
Searches on Google South Africa for ‘alcohol ban south africa’ spiked 500% over the past week as South Africa’s lockdown entered its second week. High levels of search interest were also seen for the terms ‘how to get alcohol’ and ‘homemade alcohol’
Search interest is plotted on an index of 0 – 100 and anything over 40 indicates high levels of search interest relative to other terms being searched at the time.
The Free State, North West, Mpumalanga, and Limpopo all showed high levels of search interest for the term ‘homemade alcohol’, while the Northern Cape showed very low levels of search interest for all of these terms.
Search queries related to the term ‘alcohol ban south africa’ include ‘alcohol in south africa’, ‘alcohol ban lifted’, ‘alcohol ban lifted in south africa’ and ‘south africa lockdown’.
Search queries related to the search term ‘how to get alcohol’ include ‘How to make your own alcohol’, ‘where to get alcohol during lockdown’, ‘homemade alcohol’, ‘how long does it take to get fit’ and ‘how to make alcohol at home’.
Related search queries for the term ‘homemade alcohol’ include ‘homemade beer recipes south africa’, ‘can homemade pineapple beer make you drink’, ‘homemade gin’, homemade alcoholic pineapple beer’, and ‘how to make alcohol at home fast’.
The live search data and graphs are available on the Google South Africa Trends site.
Originally appeared on Kempton Express
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