Study Shows the Impact of Rumors Related to COVID-19

A team of researchers has released a new study called the “COVID-19–Related Infodemic and Its Impact on Public Health: A Global Social Media Analysis”, started between December 31, 2019 and April 5, 2020, that showed how common infodemics during the COVID-19 pandemic that it has the potential to cause serious implications if it was prioritized over evidence based-guidelines. 

What is Infodemic?

In the study they defined Infodemic as an overabundance of information, some accurate and some not, that makes it hard for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance when they need it.

Categories of Infodemics

These are the following categories of infodemics:

• Rumor
• Stigma and discrimination
• Conspiracy Theory

Furthermore, the following types of infodemic are further classified in different categories which are cause of the disease, treatment, interventions, violence, and miscellaneous.

Systematic Monitoring Recommended

Rumor, stigma, and conspiracy theory are recognized by International Health Agencies which includes World Health Organization (WHO) as emerging threats to pandemic preparedness control that systematic monitoring and control measures are recommended.

Results of the Study

In the new study, the researcher has identified 2,311 reports related to COVID-19 Infodemic in 25 languages from 87 different countries.

Rumor

Among all the categories of the infodemics, rumor has the highest reports which is 2,049 or 89% of the total number of reports.

Here are few of the rumors related to COVID-19 according to the study:

• Eating garlic, keeping the throat moist, the need to avoid spicy food, and the importance of taking vitamin C and D to help prevent the disease.
• Spraying chlorine could prevent COVID-19 infection.

Conspiracy Theory

Next to rumor is conspiracy theory with 182 (7.8 %) reports.

Example of COVID-19 related Conspiracy theory:

• COVID-19 was a bioweapon and had been engineered by international agencies.

Stigma

While there are 82 (3.5 %) reports under stigma. And, the researchers have identified 26 episodes of stigma related to violence.

Example of a COVID-19 related stigma:

• In the study, they mentioned that there were multiple reports of physical harassment and violent attacks towards health workers, people of Asian origins, people who were quarantined, or people who were evacuated from Wuhan.

Serious Implications of COVID-19-related Infodemics

Here are some of the following serious events caused by COVID-19-related Infodemics that are discussed in the study:

• The popular myth that consumption of highly concentrated alcohol could disinfect the body and kill the virus. This rumor caused the death of 800 people and 5,876 individuals were hospitalized while 60 people developed complete blindness after drinking methanol as a cure for COVID-19.
• In Qatar, two healthy South Asian men ingested either surface disinfectant or alcohol-based hand sanitizer after exposures to COVID-19 patients.
• In India, 12 people became sick after drinking liquor made from toxic seed Datura as a cure to COVID-19. The  victims reportedly watched a video on social media that Datura seeds give immunity against COVID-19.

Major Thematic Areas of COVID-19 Rumor, Stigma and Conspiracy Theory

In the study, here are among the categories of information that are linked to COVID-19 rumor, stigma, and conspiracy theory:

• 24% were related to illness, transmission and mortality.
• 21% to control interventions.
• 19% to treatment and cure.
• 15 % to the cause of disease including origin.
• 1% to violence.
• 20% to  miscellaneous.

According to Figure 3, here’s the textual rating of the 2,276 reports:

• 1,865 claims are false.
• 204 are true.
• 176 are misleading
• 31 are not proven.

Countries with Most Identified Infodemics

Here are the following countries with most of the rumors, stigma and conspiracy theories according to the study:

• India
• United States
• China
• Spain
• Indonesia
• Brazil

In the figure it shows that India has the highest number of detected COVID-19 rumors and comes next are the United States and China.

Source: COVID-19–Related Infodemic and Its Impact on Public Health: A Global Social Media Analysis