COVID-19 Bulletin: A Timely & Credible Communicative Tool to Address ‘Infodemic’

Abstract

The coronavirus pandemic has affected the human population all over the world. And also created a dearth of authentic information along with the unprecedented global crisis related to livelihood and health management. Scientific awareness about virus transmission, containment and precautionary measures is very much needed. At the same time, authentic and right kind of information is also essential because social media platforms are overloaded with fake and unscientific information. This ‘infodemic’ or misinformation is creating panic among the people in society and unscientific claims of medical remedies. Social media can help combat or contribute to the spread of misinformation. The COVID-19 bulletin of CSIR covers the latest research reports; technological innovations, Questions and Answers, Myths versus Facts, Dashboard and the weekly update on the contributions of various CSIR laboratories in the fight against the #CoronavirusPandemic. The research aims to study the impact of disseminating information to the scientific community in specific as well as the general public through the publication of bulletin. The study also highlights the relevance, credibility, timeliness and social behaviour change brought about by this platform. The audience has well appreciated the content and opined that the news items should be backed up by some CSIR experts through their viewpoint or a quote. The respondents felt that the audience data bank should be widened. In the interest of the scientific community and society in general, the COVID-19 information should be made available in such a manner that it is easily accessible and readily available.