“Infodemic” in time of COVID-19

• Main Author: Mohamed, Shafizan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: H10 Societies; H61.8 Communication of information
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/80157/1/index.html_p%3D139284; http://irep.iium.edu.my/80157/; https://news.iium.edu.my/?p=139284
• Institution: Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia

The world is in the middle of a health crisis matched only by historical pandemics like the flu, cholera and the plague that killed so many people. Needless to say, the COVID-19 pandemic we are facing today is a serious threat. In the age of modern technologies and instantaneous communication, health crisis such as this brings also another important and as terrifying a crisis that is of the ‘infodemic’. In February, when the potential risk of the COVID-19 was still underplayed by most countries, the World Health Organisation (WHO) had warned that while the virus was at the time mostly affecting China, the world was already consumed by the ‘infodemic’ of which the WHO defined as “an over-abundance of information – some accurate and some not – that makes it hard for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance when they need it”. Trustworthy and reliable information is undeniably precious in this time of fear and uncertainty. Half of the world is on lockdown and people are expected to adopt lifestyles that are foreign and even in opposition of the modern culture.