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Public opinion evaluation on national pandemic prevention and control efforts
CGTN

As the global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has not yet subsided, CGTN Think Tank has released an analytical report on the global situation of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This report looks into public opinion on pandemic prevention and control efforts worldwide by selecting 18 countries from six continents on the basis of equal geographical representation, with a view to better understand global perception on pandemic prevention and control. A total of 22,419 comments made on pandemic-themed posts of the official Twitter accounts of 18 national health authorities were scraped from 29th June to 15th July.

1.  Evaluation of Public Opinion on National Pandemic Prevention and Control Efforts (Percentage)

The public opinion evaluation results based on comments made on Twitter posts of 18 national health authorities from 29th June to 15th July 2021, showed Egyptian and Brazilian health authorities received more than a quintile of positive comments. Of all the comments made on Egyptian health authorities, 27.1% were positive, with 67.8% being neutral and only 5.1% negative. Many Internet users praised the Egyptian government for its effective pandemic prevention effort and showed appreciation via comments. For Brazil, positive, neutral and negative comments were 20.8%, 34.6% and 44.6% respectively, with positive ones affirming the government's work on vaccination promotion.  

A special note should be made to indicate this ranking was based on positive comments made during a designated monitoring time period. It does not in any way represent the overall evaluation of various nationals since the outbreak.

2.  High-Frequency Word List

The high-frequency word list based on comments made on Twitter posts of 18 national health authorities from 29th June to 15th July 2021, showed 3 keywords were mentioned more than 2,000 times: vaccine, vaccination and coronavirus. The word vaccine had 3,732 mentions, ranking the highest in terms of frequency in Brazil, Indonesia, South Africa, Egypt and Australia. It was used most frequently by Brazilians with 840 times. The word vaccination had 2,392 mentions, ranking the highest in Canada, Argentina and Germany. Mexico, the United Kingdom and Indonesia contributed most to the mention of the word coronavirus, which totaled 2,347 times.

Three less mentioned keywords were lockdowntreatment and opening up. Among the 18 countries, only a few dozen Malaysians were interested in lockdown and opening up, mentioned 28 and 12 times, respectively. Their sentiments around these two words were mostly about the containment of the pandemic, demonstrating a stronger will of carrying out a stricter lockdown to curb the spread of virus variants. A few Egyptians talked about treatment, 26 times in total, showing an earnestness in having the infected receiving timely treatment.

3.  Frequency of All Key Words by Continent

The word frequency list by continents from 29th June to 15th July 2021, showed 9 countries from North America, South America and Europe share the top 10 most- discussed words, with hundreds of mentions of vaccines, vaccination, government and health. In South America, Brazilians like to talk about vaccines (840 times). In Europe, Germans were mostly focused on vaccination (426 times) and Deltavariant (127 times). The French were most concerned about government and health, with 751 and 667 times of mention respectively.

Among the people in 9 countries from Asia, Africa and Oceania, Indians, Indonesians and South Africans had higher enthusiasm in commenting. In Asia, Indians’ concern with government (533 times) were significantly higher than other subjects. Indonesians were most concerned about vaccines (579 times). South Africans had a general interest in vaccinevaccination and coronavirus, all of which were mentioned more than 150 times. 

4. Word Frequency Analysis by Continents and Countries

(1) North America

Comments on pandemic-themed posts from the 3 countries in North America from 29th June to 15th July 2021, demonstrated a public interest in vaccination, vaccine and coronavirus with a frequency of 730, 686 and 646 times respectively. Quarantine and travel also received adequate amount of attention. Canadians had a higher degree of participation in commenting, with 195 and 92 times of mention on quarantine and travel in the hope of reopening the border and rebooting their trade and tourism. Mexicans were more concerned with the source of the virus so that its spreading could be stalled from the epicenter, as represented by 84 times of mention. Americans showed a low participation will whilst revealed an interest in vaccination, vaccine and coronavirus.

(2) South America

Comments from two countries in South America from 29th June to 15th July 2021 showed a higher mention of vaccine (997 times) and vaccination (599 times), with an additional focus on government and health. Brazilians showed higher enthusiasm in commenting as shown by 330 and 241 mentions in government and health. They are mentioned out of affirmation on the country's efforts in promoting the vaccination. Argentinians were more concerned with COVID-related death (58 times) and referred to the pandemic death report in their comments many times.

(3) Europe

Comments on pandemic-themed posts from 4 countries in Europe from 29th June to 15th July 2021 showed a different area of focus compared to the comments from other continents as illustrated by the 836 and 756 times of mention of government and health. The French contributed to more than 90% of the mention of these two words in the 4 European countries, 751 and 667 times respectively. In Germany, the word vaccination had a higher mention (426 times), with comments focused on vaccine efficacy provided by the government. People in the UK were mostly concerned with COVID-19 confirmed cases and mortality numbers as demonstrated by their mention of coronavirus (416 times) and death (311 times). The Spanish had their minds on risk (228 times), as issues of vaccines and policy risks were mostly discussed.

(4) Asia

Comments on pandemic-themed posts from six countries in Asia from 29th June to 15th July 2021, showed higher mentions of vaccine, coronavirus and vaccination, with the frequency being 626, 428 and 371 times respectivelyPeople are also concerned with dose and health. Indonesians shared the most enthusiasm in commenting, contributing to 80-90 percent of all the mentions of dose (579 times) and health (346 times) among the 6 countries. Japanese commented more about vaccine (12 times), describing their mentality regarding the vaccination process. Singaporeans' concern on coronavirus (62 times) was mostly about its transmission and treatment. Malaysians mentioned the word shutdown  60 times in comments, urging border closures and quarantine policies to stop the spread of the pandemic. Indians were mostly worried about the actions of the government (533 times), expressing opinions on the government's efforts. Israelis paid more attention to the word vaccination (31 times) and dose (30 times), indicating an interest in vaccination and numbers of people vaccinated.

(5) Africa

Comments on pandemic-themed posts from two countries in Africa from 29th June to 15th July 2021 showed vaccine (413 times), vaccination (196 times) and coronavirus (168 times) were mentioned most frequently. The continent had a special focus on death-related topics. There were a higher number of comments from South Africa, accounting for 67% of the total. The word death was mentioned 131 times, conveying concerns and care about the death toll. Egyptians took a special interest in virus (51 times) and tourist (35 times) as tourism is an important pillar in the country.

(6) Oceania

Comments on pandemic-themed posts from Australia from 29th June to 15th July, 2021 showed coronavirus (40 times), vaccine (35 times) and vaccination (16 times) were the highest mentions. In addition, Australian government and infographic were referred to for 12 and 10 times respectively. The vaccine brand, the number of those vaccinated, and the statistics methodology on pandemic information were also words of interest.

In general, topics on vaccination are of high interest in much of the world's population. But, there is a stark contrast due to a chronic shortage of vaccines in many countries. Anxieties and dissatisfactions over this reality were compounded by factors such as the insufficient coverage of population with existing vaccine resources and overdue second doses.

The United States topped Bloomberg's recent COVID Resilience Ranking. But, this report did show the dissatisfaction of the American people on their government’s pandemic prevention efforts; and they are mostly concerned with vaccine and vaccination like the rest of the world as opposed to the reopening progress in the ranking.

In a world with a worsening COVID-19 spread, joint efforts are the path forward for humanity to rise above this challenge. The virus will only be fully contained with practical international cooperation as we tackle substantial issues such as mass vaccinations and the building of a global network for pandemic prevention and control.

 

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