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| LETTER TO THE EDITOR |
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| Year : 2022 | Volume
: 15
| Issue : 1 | Page : 141 |
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COVID-19, instagram post, and celebrity
Pathum Sookaromdee1, Viroj Wiwanitkit2
1 Priavate Academic Consultant, Bangkok, Thailand
2 Department of Community Medicine, Dr. D. Y. Patil University, Pune, Maharashtra, India; Department of Tropical Medicine, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, China
| Date of Submission | 14-Mar-2020 |
| Date of Decision | 15-Mar-2020 |
| Date of Acceptance | 08-Apr-2020 |
| Date of Web Publication | 19-May-2021 |
Correspondence Address:
Pathum Sookaromdee
Priavate Academic Consultant, Bangkok
Thailand
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/mjdrdypu.mjdrdypu_93_20
How to cite this article:
Sookaromdee P, Wiwanitkit V. COVID-19, instagram post, and celebrity. Med J DY Patil Vidyapeeth 2022;15:141 |
Dear Sir,
COVID-19 is a new disease from China that becomes an important global problem. The disease affects more than 190 countries and becomes an important pandemic outbreak.[1] The health communication regarding this new disease is interesting. At present, Instagram (IG) is a widely used internet tool. Many famous persons construct and post on IG, and there are usually followers. The impact of content post on IG is an important consideration. Here, the authors would like to discuss on an interest case from the second country that COVID-19 occurs.[2] At present (April 4, 2020), there are 2369 confirmed COVID cases in Thailand. Of these cases, one is a famous actor and celebrity. He has an IG account and many followers. Before local CDC officially reports on confirmed infection, this actor posted on his IG that he had COVID-19 and gave a document issued by a private hospital. This becomes big local news and widely discussed. First, posting on IG is accepted as private communication, but many persons discuss on the legal issue. Posting on disease during infection might affect the public, and it might generate the panic.[3] If posting is not correct or fake, the legal punishment might be levied. However, this case is a real case of infection, and the post is faster than the confirmation by local CDC. After the first indexed posting, it becomes a fashion to post the COVID-19 status on social media and perceived as social responsibility. Nevertheless, some bad people also generate fake data. Regarding the fake case, it results in frightening situation in many local communities. Until present, at least three cases are legally punished due to posting disguising information on social media. It is interesting that if we can influence the use of new communication technology, the generalization of update information on new disease outbreak might be effective. Parallel, a good system for controlling of fake news posting is also necessary.
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
| References | |  |
| 1. | Hsia W. Emerging new coronavirus infection in Wuhan, China: Situation in early 2020. Case Study Case Rep 2020;10:8-9.  |
| 2. | Yasri S, Wiwanitkit V. Editorial: Wuhan coronavirus outbreak and imported case. Adv Trop Med Pub Health Int 2020;10:1-2. |
| 3. | Joob B, Wiwanitkit V. Public sentiment and discourse about Zika virus on Instagram. Public Health 2018;154:186. |
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