Using ‘infodemics’ to understand public awareness and perception of SARS-CoV-2: A longitudinal analysis of online information about COVID-19 incidence and mortality during a major outbreak in Vietnam, July—September 2020

Abstract

Background Trends in the public perception and awareness of COVID-19 over time are poorly understood. We conducted a longitudinal study to analyze characteristics and trends of online information during a major COVID-19 outbreak in Da Nang province, Vietnam in July-August 2020 to understand public awareness and perceptions during an epidemic. Methods We collected online information on COVID-19 incidence and mortality from online platforms in Vietnam between 1 July and 15 September, 2020, and assessed their trends over time against the epidemic curve. We explored the associations between engagement, sentiment polarity, and other characteristics of online information with different outbreak phases using Poisson regression and multinomial logistic regression analysis. We assessed the frequency of keywords over time, and conducted a semantic analysis of keywords using word segmentation. Results We found a close association between collected online information and the evolution of the COVID-19 situation in Vietnam. Online information generated higher engagements during compared to before the outbreak. There was a close relationship between sentiment polarity and posts’ topics: the emotional tendencies about COVID-19 mortality were significantly more negative, and more neutral or positive about COVID-19 incidence. Online newspaper reported significantly more information in negative or positive sentiment than online forums or social media. Most topics of public concern followed closely the progression of the COVID-19 situation during the outbreak: development of the global pandemic and vaccination; the unfolding outbreak in Vietnam; and the subsiding of the outbreak after two months. Conclusion This study shows how online information can reflect a public health threat in real time, and provides important insights about public awareness and perception during different outbreak phases. Our findings can help public health decision makers in Vietnam and other low and middle income countries with high internet penetration rates to design more effective communication strategies during critical phases of an epidemic.

MGLEP: Multimodal Graph Learning for Modeling Emerging Pandemics with Big Data

“…In 9 , the authors highlight a strong correlation between peak of search volume on COVID-19 pandemic and the development of the pandemic, upto 20 days earlier than the issuance of official warnings. The authors of 1 also discovered a close connection between the evolution of the COVID-19 crisis and social media user’s sentiments toward different phases of the pandemic. Another work 33 makes use of the social impact of media coverage to support the compartment model for pandemic prediction.…”

“…To our best knowledge, previous research has only attempted to integrate basic indicators or indices, overlooking the dynamic, intricate information contained in user-generated content 8 , 12 , 31 . Incorporating these valuable signals into neural networks remains a challenge but has the potential to provide a more comprehensive view of the pandemic and its potential impacts 1 , 9 , 32 .…”

“…This requires tracking and evaluating the evolution of pandemics through efficient monitoring and analysis of online resources that provide rich information, reflecting public knowledge and perceptions in a timely manner. For instance, the volumes of social media interests can serve as early indicators of COVID-19 waves 1 , 2 , and users’ content can unveil diverse perspectives on regulations, such as quarantine measures or vaccination strategies. Understanding these signals can help policymakers to combat pandemics by recognizing trends in their spread and impact on the population, as well as the efficacy of current countermeasures.…”

The Impact of Surrogate Advertising on Public Perception and Awareness on Chhattisgarh with Special Reference to Raipur.

“…This practice involved promoting non-alcoholic or non-tobacco products under the same brand name as the restricted items to maintain brand visibility and loyalty (Mundher et al, 2022). For example, liquor brands advertised mineral water, soda, music CDs, or merchandise bearing their logos, indirectly promoting their core products (Quach et al, 2022).…”