Abstract
BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has become a global public health event, attracting worldwide attention. As a tool to monitor public awareness, internet search engines have been widely used in public health emergencies.ObjectiveThis study aims to use online search data (Baidu Index) to monitor the public’s attention and verify internet search engines’ function in public attention monitoring of public health emergencies.MethodsWe collected the Baidu Index and the case monitoring data from January 20, 2020, to April 20, 2020. We combined the Baidu Index of keywords related to COVID-19 to describe the public attention’s temporal trend and spatial distribution, and conducted the time lag cross-correlation analysis.ResultsThe Baidu Index temporal trend indicated that the changes of the Baidu Index had a clear correspondence with the development time node of the pandemic. The Baidu Index spatial distribution showed that in the regions of central and eastern China, with denser populations, larger internet user bases, and higher economic development levels, the public was more concerned about COVID-19. In addition, the Baidu Index was significantly correlated with six case indicators of new confirmed cases, new death cases, new cured discharge cases, cumulative confirmed cases, cumulative death cases, and cumulative cured discharge cases. Moreover, the Baidu Index was 0-4 days earlier than new confirmed and new death cases, and about 20 days earlier than new cured and discharged cases while 3-5 days later than the change of cumulative cases.ConclusionsThe national public’s demand for epidemic information is urgent regardless of whether it is located in the hardest hit area. The public was more sensitive to the daily new case data that represents the progress of the epidemic, but the public’s attention to the epidemic situation in other areas may lag behind. We could set the Baidu Index as the sentinel and the database in the online infoveillance system for infectious disease and public health emergencies. According to the monitoring data, the government needs to prevent and control the possible outbreak in advance and communicate the risks to the public so as to ensure the physical and psychological health of the public in the epidemic.
Highlights
As a Public Health Emergency of International Concern [1], the COVID-19 pandemic swept 215 countries and regions with high transmission speed, wide infection range, and difficulty in prevention and control [2,3]
The public was more sensitive to the daily new case data that represents the progress of the epidemic, but the public’s attention to the epidemic situation in other areas may lag behind
For COVID-19, Li et al [16] found that the internet search data from Google Trends, Baidu Index (BDI), and Sina Weibo Index was 8-10 days earlier for new laboratory-confirmed cases and 5-7 days earlier for new suspected cases [16]
Summary
As a Public Health Emergency of International Concern [1], the COVID-19 pandemic swept 215 countries and regions with high transmission speed, wide infection range, and difficulty in prevention and control [2,3]. For COVID-19, Li et al [16] found that the internet search data from Google Trends, Baidu Index (BDI), and Sina Weibo Index was 8-10 days earlier for new laboratory-confirmed cases and 5-7 days earlier for new suspected cases [16] It is an important reference for social demand monitoring. Scholars have used Google and Baidu search to obtain internet data Their applicability in monitoring public attention of public health emergencies such as influenza [15,16,17,18], H7N9 [19,20], and Dengue [21,22] has been widely confirmed. As a tool to monitor public awareness, internet search engines have been widely used in public health emergencies
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