The United Kingdom and WHO collaborate to manage the infodemic
Acting on the wrong information can kill. In the first 3 months of 2020, nearly 6 000 people around the globe were hospitalized because of coronavirus misinformation, recent research suggests. During this period, researchers say at least 800 people may have died due to misinformation related to COVID-19*.
At its extreme, death can be the tragic outcome of what the World Health Organization has termed the infodemic, an overabundance of information --- some accurate, some not --- that spreads alongside a disease outbreak. False information runs the gamut, from discrediting the threat of COVID-19 to conspiracy theories that vaccines could alter human DNA.
Though they aren't new, in our digital age infodemics spread like wildfire. They create a breeding ground for uncertainty. Uncertainty in turn fuels skepticism and distrust, which is the perfect environment for fear, anxiety, finger-pointing, stigma, violent aggression and dismissal of proven public health measures --- which can lead to loss of life.
To try to control the COVID-19 infodemic, WHO has teamed up with the United Kingdom Government to create and distribute content to combat the spread of misinformation through a series of communication campaigns. This was one of several initiatives to combat misinformation taken by WHO on its own and with partners since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Stop the Spread
'Stop the Spread' rolled out on BBC World television, website and apps during May and June 2020. It aimed to raise the public's awareness of the volume of misinformation around COVID-19 and encourage people to double check information, therefore limiting the damage and spread of false information.
'Reporting Misinformation', launched in August, galvanized people to not only verify information but showed them how to report misinformation to various social media platforms.
Alex Aiken, Executive Director of UK Government Communications, said,"The UK and the World Health Organization have a long history of collaboration. As the pandemic hit globally and the world sought collective action on the additional threat from the infodemic, our partnership was made even stronger."
"We are incredibly proud of the joint communications work we have done to strengthen global health security and vaccine confidence. The issue of infodemics is of enormous importance and the UK will be leading a global response under our G7 Presidency this year," he added.
The Reporting Misinformation campaign reached millions of people globally and social media messages were shared in 5 international languages including English, French, Spanish, Arabic and Russian. At its launch it became the second most viewed COVID-19 related page on the WHO website.
In the early days of the pandemic, much of the misinformation focused on whether COVID-19 was in fact a serious disease, whether people could protect themselves with public health measures like mask-wearing, as well as erroneous treatments and cures.
Misinformation matters
A year into the pandemic, vaccines are being rolled out, and information about them --- some reliable and some not --- is everywhere.
"Public trust in science and evidence is essential for overcoming COVID-19," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. "Therefore, finding solutions to the infodemic is as vital for saving lives from COVID-19 as public health measures, like mask-wearing and hand hygiene, to equitable access to vaccines, treatments and diagnostics."
Low rates of vaccine acceptance are a concern across the globe. Data released in January 2021 by the Johns Hopkins Centre for Communication Programs** suggest that across 23 countries, only 63 percent of respondents will accept a vaccine.
That is well below the 75 percent minimum estimate recommended by public health experts for a population to reach "herd immunity" --- the point where enough of the community has been vaccinated against COVID-19 to make further spread unlikely.
The data suggest that while there is a large segment of the population anxious to be vaccinated right away and a much smaller group adamantly opposed to getting a shot, there is a larger middle portion who are undecided and can be motivated to get the vaccine.
To boost their motivation, other UK Government-WHO collaborative campaigns have included an array of social media infographics and messages across platforms to explain the safety of COVID-19 vaccines.
The assets share positive messages which respond to unfounded concerns about the speed at which vaccines have been developed by explaining this is in part due to the unprecedented levels of scientific collaboration, funding and worldwide volunteers combined with capacity to ensure vaccine safety. Once vaccines are authorized through the regulatory process, including the assessment of safety and efficacy from phase III clinical trials, WHO's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) will issue vaccine-specific policy recommendations.
Spotting fake news via Go Viral!
In addition to powerful social media messages, an innovative online game called Go Viral! was created, based on previous research which has shown just one play can reduce perceived reliability of fake news by an average of 21%.
The game was developed as a partnership between Cambridge University and the UK Cabinet Office.
Exposing the most pervasive infodemic tactics, players discover how real news gets discredited by exploiting fake doctors and remedies, and how false rumours such as the notorious 5G conspiracy get shared and promoted. Players are provided with a shareable score and connected to WHO's COVID-19 'mythbusters'.
The collaboration aims to get more translations of the game online with English, German and French versions already out.
Although the infodemic cannot be stopped, it can be managed through campaigns and collaborations like these. By showing people how to recognize and report misinformation and improve their media literacy, we can turn the tide on the infodemic tsunami and save lives.
The body of a person who died of COVID-19 being laid for cremation on Sunday in Noida, India. Sunil Ghosh/Hindustan Times via Getty Images hide caption
The body of a person who died of COVID-19 being laid for cremation on Sunday in Noida, India.
The United States will make more medical aid available to India in an effort to fight an alarming spike in COVID-19 cases. The pledge came during a phone call between White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Indian national security adviser Ajit Doval on Sunday, as India has become the epicenter of the global coronavirus pandemic and the country's health system is collapsing.
"Just as India sent assistance to the United States as our hospitals were strained early in the pandemic, the United States is determined to help India in its time of need," National Security Council Spokesperson Emily Horne said in a statement, which went on to say that the U.S. will allow for the export of certain raw material urgently needed for vaccine production, as well as sending test kits, ventilators and personal protective equipment, among other aid.
The U.S. had previously banned the export of raw vaccine materials, stating an obligation to take care of Americans first.
India reported nearly 350,000 new cases on Sunday, more than any country on any day since the pandemic began, the fourth day in a row the country has broken that grim world record. Many worry case numbers are woefully undercounted since test kits are hard to come by, and hospitals are completely overrun.
The sudden spike has caught the country completely off guard. In late January and early February of this year, cases were at record lows, and the Indian government declared an endgame to the pandemic. Restrictions were relaxed, travel resumed and gatherings came back.
Now cases and deaths have skyrocketed. Crematoriums are running day and night, unable to keep up with the bodies. There are desperate pleas for oxygen, hospital beds and medicine.
Oxygen is by far the biggest need in the country right now. Hospitals are trying to ration oxygen for the patients who are able to secure a hospital bed, which is difficult in itself. Hundreds, possibly thousands, die each day with doctors unable to help.
One longtime journalist who couldn't get treatment live-tweeted his declining oxygen levels until he died.
"I have never felt so desperate or helpless," Dr. Trupti Gilada said in a Facebook video she recorded of herself, weeping as she huddled in her car outside the Mumbai hospital where she works. "We are seeing young people. We have a 35-year-old who's on a ventilator. Please pray for our patients."
Sunday's pledge also said that the United States was urgently "pursuing options to provide oxygen generation," and would be deploying a team of public health advisers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Agency for International Development to work with health officials in India and at the U.S. Embassy.
Lauren Frayer contributed reporting from Mumbai.
Authorities in Nepal were grappling to contain the rapid rise of COVID-19 cases with experts fearing that thousands of people in the Himalayan state have caught the more infectious mutant strains emerging out of India.
Nepal, which shares a long porous border with India, reported 3,032 new infections on Sunday, the highest daily surge recorded this year. It took the total caseload since the pandemic first struck Nepal to 300,119, and there have so far been 3,164 deaths, according to government data.
"We have detected the UK variant and the double mutant variant detected in India," Krishna Prasad Paudel, the director of Nepal's Epidemiology and Disease Control Department Paudel told Reuters, adding that experts were checking for other variants too.
Nepal launched its vaccination campaign in January and gave shots to 1.9 million people, all provided by India and China. But health experts feared that continuation of the vaccination drive was uncertain after officials had failed to procure more vaccine shots from India or any other source.
Over 90 developing nations, including Nepal, rely on India, home to the Serum Institute, the world's largest vaccine maker, for the doses to protect their own populations, but India has now prioritised its own needs as a second wave of the epidemic there has run out of control.
"The virus is mutating very fast...what started in India has now entered Nepal too," said Rabindra Pandey, a public health expert, adding that if the trend continued for a week then new patients will be unable to find any beds as hospitals were already stretched.
Wedged between China and India, Nepal shares a 1,751-kilometre (1,094 miles) border with its southern neighbour India. The border was closed for some time during a lockdown last year, when the first wave of the epidemic struck, but it has since been reopened.
Nepal's former king Gyanendra and his wife, who tested positive for the virus after returning from India where they attended a religious festival, were undergoing treatment at a private facility in Kathmandu.
"The situation is really frightening," said Prakash Thapa, a doctor at Bheri hospital in Nepalgunj, a city in the southwest plains bordering India.
He said the hospital was inundated with coronavirus patients requiring intensive care and ventilators.
"This time even children and young people are brought in critical condition and patients are even sleeping on the floor and corridors," he said.
Nepal's ruling Communist party has been embroiled in a power struggle for months, and Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli has been criticised for his response to the crisis.
Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali told reporters on Sunday that despite the surge in cases a national level lockdown was not required.
Nepal's economy contracted for the first time in four decades in the last fiscal year due to a months-long lockdown to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.
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