Public precaution awareness: a case study from Google search trend
during Covid-19 outbreak in Indonesia
Abstract
Objective: The global outbreak of COVID-19 is emerged recently and this
poses stress on health and well-being of the people in the worldwide
including in Indonesia. Public interest in this new issue largely
reflects people’s attention to COVID-19 and their willingness to take
precautionary actions. This study aimed to examine public awareness on
the prevention of COVID-19 using Google Trend (GT) . Methods: Using GT,
we retrieved public query data for the term of (coronavirus,
handwashing, hand sanitizer, and facemask) between 12 December 2019 and
4 April 2020 in the specific locations of Indonesia nationwide and
several provinces. The correlation between daily search volumes on the
topic related to COVID-19 and the daily number of people infected with
COVID-19 was analyzed. Results: Our studies observed the overall search
trend of RSV regarding COVID-19 after the global outbreak and the
announcement of first covid-19 case in Indonesia, the search related to
COVID-19, and other defined terms in Indonesia increased rapidly. In
addition, search related to face mask were gradually increased. Searches
for face mask and hand sanitizer is more popular than handwashing. There
is a positive correlation between daily RSV on COVID-19 and other
defined terms and the daily number of people infected with COVID-19
nationwide ( p <0·05). There are various interest to RSV
related to COVID-19, and public awareness of COVID-19 was almost similar
in some provinces, particularly searches related to facemask and hand
sanitizer. Conclusion: Our findings demonstrates that GT could
potentially define the proper timing and location for practicing
appropriate risk communication strategies to prevent the spread of
emerging disease. The study demonstrates that government should
strengthen the publicity of COVID- 19 nationally, reinforce the public’s
awareness on the prevention of COVID-19 and finally inform the
importance of protecting individuals with appropriate and affordable
precautionary measures.