Abstract

During the new coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, many fake news and misleading information that could cause fear and panic among the public spread around the world. In this study, we aimed to determine online search behavior and frequency of use of infodemic monikers regarding the COVID-19 outbreak. Searches were made between December 10th, 2019 and October10th, 2020. The top five infodemic and scientific COVID-19 terms trending (coronavirus/koronavirüs, corona/korona, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, novel coronavirus/) in Turkish and English in all categories (web, visuals, shopping, etc.) in Turkey and worldwide were searched. It was found that the highest search volume was related to the search term “koronavirus” in Turkey and worldwide. It was determined that the society used infodemic words instead of scientific terms. The word "korona" had highest search volume, while in the more developed regions (Istanbul, İzmir, Bursa, Ankara), "COVID-19”, “SARS-CoV-2” search words were preferred. COVID-19 (value=3), SARS-COV-2 (value

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