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

Ha-Linh Quach; Thai Quang Pham; Ngoc-Anh Hoang; Dinh Cong Phung; Viet-Cuong Nguyen; Son Hong Le; Thanh Cong Le; Thu Minh Thi Bui; Dang Hai Le; Anh Duc Dang; Duong Nhu Tran; Nghia Duy Ngu; Florian Vogt; Cong-Khanh Nguyen

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0266299

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

PLoS One. 2022 Apr 7;17(4):e0266299. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0266299. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Ha-Linh Quach^{1

2}, Thai Quang Pham^{1

3}, Ngoc-Anh Hoang^{1

2}, Dinh Cong Phung⁴, Viet-Cuong Nguyen⁵, Son Hong Le⁶, Thanh Cong Le⁷, Thu Minh Thi Bui⁸, Dang Hai Le¹, Anh Duc Dang⁹, Duong Nhu Tran⁹, Nghia Duy Ngu¹, Florian Vogt^{2

10}, Cong-Khanh Nguyen^{1

11}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Communicable Diseases Control, National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Hanoi, Vietnam.
² National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Research School of Population Health, College of Health and Medicine, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
³ Department of Biostatistics and Medical Informatics, School of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Hanoi Medical University, Hanoi, Vietnam.
⁴ National Agency for Science and Technology Information, Ministry of Science and Technology, Hanoi, Vietnam.
⁵ HPC SYSTEMS Inc., Tokyo, Japan.
⁶ CMetric JSC Inc., Hanoi, Vietnam.
⁷ INFORE Technology Inc., Hanoi, Vietnam.
⁸ Department of Health Communication and Reward, Ministry of Health, Hanoi, Vietnam.
⁹ National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Hanoi, Vietnam.
¹⁰ The Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
¹¹ Field Epidemiology Training Program, National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Hanoi, Vietnam.

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.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

COVID-19* / epidemiology
Humans
Incidence
Infodemic
Longitudinal Studies
Pandemics
Perception
SARS-CoV-2
Social Media*
Vietnam / epidemiology

Grants and funding

HLQ and NAH are trainees of the program and received scholarships from the ASEAN-Australia Health Security Fellowship by the Commonwealth Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade under the grant number 736a/2018.