scholarly journals WeChat, a Chinese social media, may early detect the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in 2019

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenjun Wang ◽  
Yikai Wang ◽  
Xin Zhang ◽  
Yaping Li ◽  
Xiaoli Jia ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Daily Data ◽  
Chinese Social Media

AbstractWe plotted daily data on the frequencies of keywords related to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) from WeChat, a Chinese social media. Using “Feidian”, Chinese abbreviation for SARS, may detect the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in 2019 two weeks earlier. WeChat offered a new approach to early detect disease outbreaks.

scholarly journals Using WeChat, a Chinese Social Media App, for Early Detection of the COVID-19 Outbreak in December 2019: Retrospective Study

10.2196/19589 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. e19589
Author(s):  
Wenjun Wang ◽  
Yikai Wang ◽  
Xin Zhang ◽  
Xiaoli Jia ◽  
Yaping Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Early Detection ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Early Warning Systems ◽  
Warning Systems ◽  
Early Detection Of Disease ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
Chinese Social Media

Background A novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, was identified in December 2019, when the first cases were reported in Wuhan, China. The once-localized outbreak has since been declared a pandemic. As of April 24, 2020, there have been 2.7 million confirmed cases and nearly 200,000 deaths. Early warning systems using new technologies should be established to prevent or mitigate such events in the future. Objective This study aimed to explore the possibility of detecting the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in 2019 using social media. Methods WeChat Index is a data service that shows how frequently a specific keyword appears in posts, subscriptions, and search over the last 90 days on WeChat, the most popular Chinese social media app. We plotted daily WeChat Index results for keywords related to SARS-CoV-2 from November 17, 2019, to February 14, 2020. Results WeChat Index hits for “Feidian” (which means severe acute respiratory syndrome in Chinese) stayed at low levels until 16 days ahead of the local authority’s outbreak announcement on December 31, 2019, when the index increased significantly. The WeChat Index values persisted at relatively high levels from December 15 to 29, 2019, and rose rapidly on December 30, 2019, the day before the announcement. The WeChat Index hits also spiked for the keywords “SARS,” “coronavirus,” “novel coronavirus,” “shortness of breath,” “dyspnea,” and “diarrhea,” but these terms were not as meaningful for the early detection of the outbreak as the term “Feidian”. Conclusions By using retrospective infoveillance data from the WeChat Index, the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in December 2019 could have been detected about two weeks before the outbreak announcement. WeChat may offer a new approach for the early detection of disease outbreaks.

scholarly journals Using WeChat, a Chinese Social Media App, for Early Detection of the COVID-19 Outbreak in December 2019: Retrospective Study (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenjun Wang ◽  
Yikai Wang ◽  
Xin Zhang ◽  
Xiaoli Jia ◽  
Yaping Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Early Detection ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Early Warning Systems ◽  
Warning Systems ◽  
Early Detection Of Disease ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
Chinese Social Media

BACKGROUND A novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, was identified in December 2019, when the first cases were reported in Wuhan, China. The once-localized outbreak has since been declared a pandemic. As of April 24, 2020, there have been 2.7 million confirmed cases and nearly 200,000 deaths. Early warning systems using new technologies should be established to prevent or mitigate such events in the future. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to explore the possibility of detecting the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in 2019 using social media. METHODS WeChat Index is a data service that shows how frequently a specific keyword appears in posts, subscriptions, and search over the last 90 days on WeChat, the most popular Chinese social media app. We plotted daily WeChat Index results for keywords related to SARS-CoV-2 from November 17, 2019, to February 14, 2020. RESULTS WeChat Index hits for “Feidian” (which means severe acute respiratory syndrome in Chinese) stayed at low levels until 16 days ahead of the local authority’s outbreak announcement on December 31, 2019, when the index increased significantly. The WeChat Index values persisted at relatively high levels from December 15 to 29, 2019, and rose rapidly on December 30, 2019, the day before the announcement. The WeChat Index hits also spiked for the keywords “SARS,” “coronavirus,” “novel coronavirus,” “shortness of breath,” “dyspnea,” and “diarrhea,” but these terms were not as meaningful for the early detection of the outbreak as the term “Feidian”. CONCLUSIONS By using retrospective infoveillance data from the WeChat Index, the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in December 2019 could have been detected about two weeks before the outbreak announcement. WeChat may offer a new approach for the early detection of disease outbreaks.

Chinese Social Media Platforms and Microblogging in the Context of Public Diplomacy

Communicology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 167-179
Author(s):  
E.S. Nadezhkina
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Public Diplomacy ◽  
User Generated Content ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Interactive Communication ◽  
Network Interaction ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Right ◽  
Chinese Social Media

The term “digital public diplomacy” that appeared in the 21st century owes much to the emergence and development of the concept of Web 2.0 (interactive communication on the Internet). The principle of network interaction, in which the system becomes better with an increase in the number of users and the creation of user-generated content, made it possible to create social media platforms where news and entertainment content is created and moderated by the user. Such platforms have become an expression of the opinions of various groups of people in many countries of the world, including China. The Chinese segment of the Internet is “closed”, and many popular Western services are blocked in it. Studying the structure of Chinese social media platforms and microblogging, as well as analyzing targeted content is necessary to understand China’s public opinion, choose the right message channels and receive feedback for promoting the country’s public diplomacy. This paper reveals the main Chinese social media platforms and microblogging and provides the assessment of their popularity, as well as possibility of analyzing China’s public opinion based on “listening” to social media platforms and microblogging.

scholarly journals Real-time clinician text feeds from electronic health records

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
James T. H. Teo ◽  
Vlad Dinu ◽  
William Bernal ◽  
Phil Davidson ◽  
Vitaliy Oliynyk ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Electronic Health Records ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Capacity Planning ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Record System ◽  
Health Records ◽  
Keywords And Phrases ◽  
Electronic Health

AbstractAnalyses of search engine and social media feeds have been attempted for infectious disease outbreaks, but have been found to be susceptible to artefactual distortions from health scares or keyword spamming in social media or the public internet. We describe an approach using real-time aggregation of keywords and phrases of freetext from real-time clinician-generated documentation in electronic health records to produce a customisable real-time viral pneumonia signal providing up to 4 days warning for secondary care capacity planning. This low-cost approach is open-source, is locally customisable, is not dependent on any specific electronic health record system and can provide an ensemble of signals if deployed at multiple organisational scales.

scholarly journals Uncovering the low-profile #MeToo movement: Towards a discursive politics of empowerment on Chinese social media

2021 ◽  
pp. 205943642110314
Author(s):  
Xiao Han
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Chinese Context ◽  
Feminist Politics ◽  
Low Profile ◽  
Potential Possibility ◽  
Collective Reading ◽  
Discursive Politics ◽  
Nuanced Understanding ◽  
Chinese Social Media

In China, a few posts related to #MeToo movement survived and remained online well after its peak and the state’s response in July 2018. This article proposes a theoretical framework that pays attention to discursive meaning-making and employs a broad notion of empowerment, referred to as ‘empowerment through discourse’, in order to offer a more nuanced understanding of the low-profile #MeToo movement in the Chinese context. This framework is used to analyse a corpus of uncensored #MeToo material, which appeared on Chinese social media. This article combines a discourse analysis of these posts and interviews with feminists from activist collectives to critically examine feminist empowerment by reflecting on survivor/victim narration and storytelling practices, digital media’s capacity to facilitate critical dialogue between witnesses and survivors/victims and activist collectives’ organising role in opening up a dialogic space for collective reading, listening and healing. These reflections lead to broader considerations on how notions of empowerment can spur collective action and structural change. In short, this article demonstrates the potential possibility of discursive change and reflects on this mode of feminist politics as a way to speak to empowerment in the Chinese context.

scholarly journals Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) related coronavirus in bats

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rong Geng ◽  
Peng Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
First Century ◽  
Intermediate Hosts ◽  
Human Coronavirus ◽  
Transmission Potential ◽  
Disease Agent ◽  
And Control ◽  
Genomic Similarity

AbstractThree major human coronavirus disease outbreaks, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19), occurred in the twenty-first century and were caused by different coronaviruses (CoVs). All these viruses are considered to have originated from bats and transmitted to humans through intermediate hosts. SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2, disease agent of COVID-19, shared around 80% genomic similarity, and thus belong to SARS-related CoVs. As a natural reservoir of viruses, bats harbor numerous other SARS-related CoVs that could potentially infect humans around the world, causing SARS or COVID-19 like outbreaks in the future. In this review, we summarized the current knowledge of CoVs on geographical distribution, genetic diversity, cross-species transmission potential and possible pathogenesis in humans, aiming for a better understanding of bat SARS-related CoVs in the context of prevention and control.

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