​New studies by local researchers explore social impact of Covid-19 outbreak in Singapore

TODAY, 21 May (http://www3.ntu.edu.sg/CorpComms2/Documents/2020/05_May/TODAY_200521_NCID NUS NTU.pdf)

Four new studies by local researchers are under way to understand how social behaviour here has been influenced by the Covid-19 outbreak, which has infected more than 29,000 people and claimed 23 lives in Singapore. The studies, which are jointly conducted by the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID), NUS and NTU also seek to understand the role that these social factors play in managing the outbreak. A study conducted by NTU’s Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information found that much of the information shared on social media platforms about Covid-19 did not originate from the traditional sources like governments, mainstream media and health authorities. Prof May O. Lwin, who led the NTU study, said one of the reasons fake news has become so prevalent despite the public’s high trust in official sources is that the increased use of messaging apps has made it more likely for information to be miscommunicated. Moving forward, Prof Lwin said the research team hopes to carry out more research to draw links between how the sentiments on the virus shared on social media have had an impact on people’s responses to the outbreak.