COVID-19 and SOS tweets in India

“Be careful, be smart, be kind” were the words of WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. India has faced the worst second wave of the pandemic. With daily cases exceeding 350,000 at the time of writing, hospitals in India have seen an increase in the number of critically ill patients. The battle between the healthcare system serving the world’s second largest population and the severe outbreaks of COVID-19 is intense and ongoing. Doctors, nurses, hospital staff and ambulance drivers are at the forefront of managing complications from COVID-19. In a Media Watch article, Graham Mackenzie described the UK foreclosure experience as captured via social media.

In India, social media has proven to be a savior amid this pandemic.

Important tweets clarified issues such as the need for hospitalization and stomach ventilation, the use of the 6-minute walk test in mild illness and steroids in the management of severe illness, and the Education on COVID-19 Reports and Staging of Chest CT Scan Data System.

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Hospitals updated the day-to-day status of vacant beds in wards and intensive care units in tweets. Home RT-PCR swab sampling helplines have been shared and free food assistance numbers for COVID-19 patients isolated at home have been disseminated.

With the largest vaccination campaign underway, the government is sparing no effort to make vaccines available to all citizens.

The Indian government provided nearby vaccination centers and details of the recording in tweets from officials. Links to immunization portals – through which citizens could schedule their vaccine appointments – and vaccine awareness were disseminated with hashtags such as # Unite2FightCorona and #LargestVaccineDrive. Important information about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been shared. The government has published home treatment and hospital management protocols. Social distancing and the correct use of the mask was a priority. The lockdown instructions and guidelines for interstate travel have been issued by official government handles. COVID-19 fact checkers have been updated to tackle misinformation on social media.

Understanding the support provided by social media during the pandemic could help build support for crises in the future.

There are limits to social media, such as the spread of rumors and panic messages and the anxiety induced by sharing stories of suffering. Twitter users, however, have led the way in turning social media into a blessing during the pandemic. We have witnessed many stories of courage, struggles to survive, and ordinary citizens turning into saviors to help society in one of the worst pandemics ever.