Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases » Analysis of Google Trends queries in Russia during the coronavirus infection pandemic as a tool for epidemiological surveillance

Analysis of Google Trends queries in Russia during the coronavirus infection pandemic as a tool for epidemiological surveillance

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18565/epidem.2020.10.4.33-7

Momynaliev K.T., Akimkin V.G.
Central Research Institute of Epidemiology, Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Well-Being, Moscow, Russia

The coronavirus infection (COVID-19) pandemic has created a unique opportunity to study the activity patterns of Internet users due to the novel disease and to investigate how they are related to the real cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Objective. To conduct epidemiological and social studies of public awareness about the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) in the Russian Federation.
Materials and methods. The «COVID-19» queries obtained using the Google Trends in the period from January 9, 2001 to September 24, 2020 were analyzed.
Results. Search activity for the queries that may be associated with COVID-19 symptoms, such as olfaction and loss of olfaction, has a strong positive correlation with the confirmed number of cases in Russia (r = 0.81 for an olfaction query and r = 0.79 for a loss of olfaction query). There was a strong and moderate negative correlation between the queries «cough» and «sputum»: -0.72 and -0.53, respectively. A strong positive correlation was also found between the real cases of the infection and the queries related to the diagnosis of COVID-19, such as CT (r = 0.71) and antibodies (r = 0.79).
Conclusion. The relationship between relative search volume (RSV) in the Internet and the confirmed number of cases can be of great importance for monitoring the rapidly evolving epidemic situation that requires up-to-date information on the spread of the disease.

Keywords: query, Google Trends, coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, correlation

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About the Autors

Kuvat Т. Momynaliev, ВD, Associate Professor, Leading Researcher, Central Research Institute of Epidemiology, Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Well-Being, Moscow, Russia; e-mail: dhoroshun@gmail.com; ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4656-1025
Prof. Vasiliy G. Akimkin, MD, Аcademician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Director, Central Research Institute of Epidemiology, Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Well-Being, Moscow, Russia; e-mail: vgakimkin@yandex.ru; ОRCID: http://orcid.org/ 0000-0003-4228-9044

Analysis of Google Trends queries in Russia during the coronavirus infection pandemic as a tool for epidemiological surveillance

Literature

About the Autors

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