Abstract
Digital surveillance has shown mixed results as a supplement to traditional surveillance. Google Trends™ (GT) (Google, Mountain View, CA, United States) has been used for digital surveillance of H1N1, Ebola and MERS. We used GT to correlate the information seeking on COVID-19 with number of tests and cases in India. Data was obtained on daily tests and cases from WHO, ECDC and covid19india.org. We used a comprehensive search strategy to retrieve GT data on COVID-19 related information-seeking behavior in India between January 1 and May 31, 2020 in the form of relative search volume (RSV). We also used time-lag correlation analysis to assess the temporal relationships between RSV and daily new COVID-19 cases and tests. GT RSV showed high time-lag correlation with both daily reported tests and cases for the terms "COVID 19," "COVID," "social distancing," "soap," and "lockdown" at the national level. In 5 high-burden states, high correlation was observed for these 5 terms along with "Corona." Peaks in RSV, both at the national level and in high-burden states corresponded with media coverage or government declarations on the ongoing pandemic. The correlation observed between GT data and COVID-19 tests/cases in India may be either due to media-coverage-induced curiosity, or health-seeking curiosity.
Highlights
With more than 63000000 cases and more than 1400000 deaths reported worldwide by December 1 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic is the biggest human health threat since the deadly Influenza Pandemic of 1918.1 Countries across the globe have implemented various pharmacological and non-pharmacological control measures with mixed results
Surveillance of infectious diseases in India has been conducted through the Integrated Disease Surveillance Project (IDSP) network since 2004.3 Real-time surveillance was initiated in the form of Integrated Health Information Platform (IHIP) in 7 states in 2018.4 India’s health system consists of government-run health facilities and private health providers
A stark difference is seen in the United States of America (USA), where peak interest was reported on March 9 and 12, coinciding with the issuance of interim guidelines and the declaration of Novel Coronavirus pandemic by World Health Organization (WHO).[23]
Summary
With more than 63000000 cases and more than 1400000 deaths reported worldwide by December 1 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic is the biggest human health threat since the deadly Influenza Pandemic of 1918.1 Countries across the globe have implemented various pharmacological and non-pharmacological control measures with mixed results. Surveillance of infectious diseases in India has been conducted through the Integrated Disease Surveillance Project (IDSP) network since 2004.3 Real-time surveillance was initiated in the form of Integrated Health Information Platform (IHIP) in 7 states in 2018.4 India’s health system consists of government-run health facilities and private health providers. Google TrendsTM (Google, Mountain View, CA, United States) (GT) is an automated digital platform which provides data on Google search queries in form of Relative Search Volume (RSV).[9] It has been used during epidemics of H1N1 influenza, Ebola Virus Disease, Dengue Fever, Zika, MERS, and Conjunctivitis etc., as well as for cancer screening, sinusitis, and scarlet fever, etcetera.[10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20] With over 560000000 internet users in India, infodemiology can supplement IDSP.[21] A study from India reported correlation between GT and IDSP reporting, in diseases such as Malaria, Dengue, Chikungunya and Enteric fever.[22]
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