Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Public Health and Surveillance
Date Submitted: Apr 15, 2020
Date Accepted: Apr 22, 2020
Date Submitted to PubMed: Apr 27, 2020
Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)-related web search behavior and infodemic attitude in Italy: Infodemiological study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Since the beginning of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, fake news and misleading information are circulated all over the world, which can profoundly affect public health communication.
Objective:
We investigated the online search queries behavior related to the COVID-19 outbreak and the attitude of infodemic monikers circulating in Italy.
Methods:
By using Google Trends (GT) to explore the internet activity related to COVID-19 from January to March 2020. Titles of the articles of the most read newspapers, and government websites were mined to investigate the attitude of various infodemic monikers circulating across various regions and cities in Italy. Relative search volumes (RSVs) and average-peak comparison (APC) scale are used to quantify the results.
Results:
Keywords such as "novel coronavirus", "china coronavirus", "COVID-19", "2019-nCOV", and "SARS-COV-2" are the top five search queries terms. Information related to face masks, amuchina (disinfectant), symptoms of the novel coronavirus, health bulletins, and vaccine for coronavirus were the top five searches related to health. The regions of Umbria and Basilicata recorded a high number of infodemic monikers (APC >140). Misinformation was widely circulated in Campania region and racism related information in Umbria and Basilicata. These monikers were more frequently pronounced (APC >100) in more than ten major cities in the Italy including Rome.
Conclusions:
We identified a growing regional and population-level interest in COVID-19 in Italy, and a majority of the searches are related to amuchina (disinfectants), face maks, health bulletin, and symptoms related to COVID-19. As a large number of infodemic monikers were observed across Italy, we recommend the health agencies to use GT to address the misinformation circulating in Italy.
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