Title: AHP-based evaluation of critical barriers for social distancing in India during COVID-19 pandemic

Authors: Hemant Upadhyay; Abhinav Juneja; Sapna Juneja; Deepak Gupta

Addresses: B.M. Institute of Engineering and Technology, Sonipat, India ' KIET Group of Institutions, Ghaziabad, Delhi-NCR, India ' IMS Engineering College, Ghaziabad, India ' Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Technology, Delhi, India

Abstract: COVID-19 has made the world realise, the uncertainty of our existence on the planet. There have been unprecedented consequences of the spread of this deadly pandemic. New methods and theories are being proposed by research community to save the humans from being affected by this disease. The aim of the presented research work is to analyse the critical barriers in social distancing in India during COVID-19 using AHP technique. Expert opinions are utilised to identify critical barriers in self-distancing in India during COVID-19. Twelve critical barriers have been identified, compared and evaluated using analytic hierarchical process (AHP) method to get ranked in terms of priorities for preventing the spread of pandemic. The results may be utilised by the policy creators for nurturing adequate reforms and policies to effectively deal with current pandemic considering the relative importance of these critical barriers in social distancing management.

Keywords: COVID-19; analytic hierarchy process; AHP; critical barriers; social distancing.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNVO.2021.120170

International Journal of Networking and Virtual Organisations, 2021 Vol.25 No.3/4, pp.286 - 307

Received: 21 Oct 2020
Accepted: 09 Jan 2021
Published online: 10 Jan 2022 *

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