Internet search trends: a tool for effective communication

ABSTRACT

Background: The disease sprouts by coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) is an important event in the health and well-being of people around the world. The worldwide public interest in this new topic reflects to a large extent the attention of people to COVID-19 and their willingness to take precautionary measures. Objective: Examine the worldwide public awareness of COVID-19 using Google Trends. Methods: Using Google Trends, we retrieved data from public consultations for the terms of [COVID-19 coronavirus + quarantine + face masks + handwash + chloroquine + azithromycin] between the 1st of December 2019 until the 25th of April 2020 in four countries (Peru, Ecuador, Chile and Brazil). The dynamic analysis of series shows the general exchange rate trend of the relative volume (RSV) for the theme in COVID-19. The correlation between the daily search volumes on the topic related to COVID-19 and the daily number of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 was analyzed. Results: Our studies have observed that the general trend of RSV searches with respect to topics related to COVID-19 increased during the initial period of observation time and reached the first point of the first week of March 2020 in the majority of countries. A slightly positive correlation was observed between the daily RSV on the topic related to COVID-19 and the daily number of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 in the majority of countries. Conclusions: The current study reminds us that governments should strengthen COVID-19 publicity at national level, strengthen public awareness and awareness of COVID-19, inform the public about the importance of protecting themselves with sufficient precautionary measures and finally to control the spread of COVID19 worldwide. © 2021, Editorial Ciencias Medicas. All rights reserved.