This phenomenon is also reducing the legitimacy of new scientific discoveries regarding potential cures or vaccine candidates for this disease. The widespread misinformation related to the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 has confused both the general population and healthcare providers, who are battling a relatively under-researched disease. Similar phenomena have been observed in other economies around the world, which may have prolonged impacts on public health nutrition and psychosocial health among the affected populations.
Rumors about a national lockdown in the United States fueled panic buying of groceries and paper products, which disrupted the supply chain and exacerbated demand-supply gaps and food insecurity among individuals with low socioeconomic status and other vulnerable populations. Another example of hazards attributable to improper health communication can be drawn from Nigeria, where the health officials found several cases of overdose of chloroquine (a drug used to treat malaria) after news on the purported effectiveness of the drug for treating COVID-19 spread through the news media. For example, in India, a father of three was reported to commit suicide upon learning that he had been diagnosed with COVID-19. Furthermore, misinformation and rumors regarding COVID-19 are hindering the practice of healthy behaviors (such as handwashing and social distancing) and promoting erroneous practices that increase the spread of the virus and ultimately result in poor physical and mental health outcomes. This issue is becoming a public health concern as exposure to a high volume of information can lead to media fatigue, causing the discontinuation of healthy behaviors that are essential to protect individuals. A recent analysis showed that during the 2016 presidential election in the United States, fake and biased news was more outspread than news from 19 authentic sources combined. The pressing issue is that fake news spreads more rapidly on social media than news from reliable sources, damaging the authenticity balance of the news ecosystem.
Simultaneously, numerous rumors, pieces of misinformation, and hoaxes have appeared on several social media platforms regarding the etiology, outcomes, prevention, and cure of the disease. Furthermore, these practices should be controlled with regulatory and law enforcement measures alongside ensuring telemedicine-based services providing accurate information on COVID-19.Ĭoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a respiratory tract illness resulting from infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in recent months, COVID-19 has become a global pandemic, posing a major public health challenge for the health systems of many nations. Also, advanced technologies like natural language processing or data mining approaches should be applied in the detection and removal of online content with no scientific basis from all social media platforms. The mass media, healthcare organization, community-based organizations, and other important stakeholders should build strategic partnerships and launch common platforms for disseminating authentic public health messages. To address this issue, the frontline healthcare providers should be equipped with the most recent research findings and accurate information. Myriad incidents of mishaps caused by these rumors have been reported globally. Such spread of misinformation is masking healthy behaviors and promoting erroneous practices that increase the spread of the virus and ultimately result in poor physical and mental health outcomes among individuals. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has not only caused significant challenges for health systems all over the globe but also fueled the surge of numerous rumors, hoaxes, and misinformation, regarding the etiology, outcomes, prevention, and cure of the disease.