Abstract
BackgroundMassive community-wide testing has become the cornerstone of management strategies for the COVID-19 pandemic.ObjectiveThis study was a comparative analysis between the United Kingdom and China, which aimed to assess public attitudes and uptake regarding COVID-19 testing, with a focus on factors of COVID-19 testing hesitancy, including effectiveness, access, risk perception, and communication.MethodsWe collected and manually coded 3856 UK tweets and 9299 Chinese Sina Weibo posts mentioning COVID-19 testing from June 1 to July 15, 2020. Adapted from the World Health Organization’s 3C Model of Vaccine Hesitancy, we employed social listening analysis examining key factors of COVID-19 testing hesitancy (confidence, complacency, convenience, and communication). Descriptive analysis, time trends, geographical mapping, and chi-squared tests were performed to assess the temporal, spatial, and sociodemographic characteristics that determine the difference in attitudes or uptake of COVID-19 tests.ResultsThe UK tweets demonstrated a higher percentage of support toward COVID-19 testing than the posts from China. There were much wider reports of public uptake of COVID-19 tests in mainland China than in the United Kingdom; however, uncomfortable experiences and logistical barriers to testing were more expressed in China. The driving forces for undergoing COVID-19 testing were personal health needs, community-wide testing, and mandatory testing policies for travel, with major differences in the ranking order between the two countries. Rumors and information inquiries about COVID-19 testing were also identified.ConclusionsPublic attitudes and acceptance toward COVID-19 testing constantly evolve with local epidemic situations. Policies and information campaigns that emphasize the importance of timely testing and rapid communication responses to inquiries and rumors, and provide a supportive environment for accessing tests are key to tackling COVID-19 testing hesitancy and increasing uptake.
Highlights
As the number of COVID-19 cases accelerated globally in early 2020, many public health experts advocated for widespread rapid testing that could complement other containment strategies, such as hand washing, contact tracing, and quarantine, and that should be viewed as important as face covering, social distancing, and vaccines [1,2]
With the decrease in new cases, the COVID-19 Alert Level in the United Kingdom was downgraded from level 4 to level 3 on June 19, representing that the COVID-19 epidemic was in general circulation with a demonstrable reduction in the number of cases and deaths [32]
There was a higher level of support toward individual and mass COVID-19 testing in the United Kingdom and London than in mainland China and Beijing; most opposition originated from the capital cities
Summary
As the number of COVID-19 cases accelerated globally in early 2020, many public health experts advocated for widespread rapid testing that could complement other containment strategies, such as hand washing, contact tracing, and quarantine, and that should be viewed as important as face covering, social distancing, and vaccines [1,2]. During the resurgence in Beijing in June 2020, 3.56 million individuals at risk were tracked and tested [5], and the outbreak was quickly brought under control Countries, such as the United Kingdom and Japan, had delays in rolling out mass testing [6], and asymptomatic individuals and high-risk populations (ie, health care workers) were not able to access testing in the pandemic’s early stage due to limited capacity [7]. Policies and information campaigns that emphasize the importance of timely testing and rapid communication responses to inquiries and rumors, and provide a supportive environment for accessing tests are key to tackling COVID-19 testing hesitancy and increasing uptake
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
