What Does the Public Want to Know About The COVID-19 Pandemic? A Systematic Analysis of Questions Asked in The Internet

Background Quora is a popular question and answer (Q&A) website that enables people to connect with others and clear their doubts about the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). In this study, we analysed the content, type and quality of Q&As in Quora regarding this pandemic, and compared the information with that on World Health Organization (WHO) website. Methods We conducted a systematic search to include 964 questions in Quora. The tone of the question was categorized as either positive (questions with a primary intent to obtain information), negative (questions which represent panic or are related to misconception/false information) or ambivalent. The two most helpful answers of each question were graded for accuracy, authority, popularity, readability, and relevancy. Results 462 (48%) questions were classified as positive, while 391 (41%) were negative. Number of views were higher for negative questions (11421 vs 7300, p=0.004). Majority of the questions were on social impact (N=217, 23%), followed by politics (N=122, 13%) and disease management (N=96, 10%). Positive questions had more accurate, but less popular answers (p<0.05). Information related to 229 (28%) questions were present on WHO website, while partial information was present for 103 (11%) questions. Discussion Higher views with negative questions suggest that false and panic promoting information is more likely to get public attention. A substantial amount of questions was related to the present and future effects of COVID-19 on social and personal lives of the users which were not readily available on official health websites.