COVID-19 Infodemic and Misinformation: A Global Review and Implications for Zimbabwe

ABSTRACT

The advent and rapid spread of the coronavirus resulted in the need and demand for timely and reliable information about the contagion. The absence of such information led to a massive COVID-19 infodemic paddled on different forms of media. Myths, conspiracies, rumours and misinformation about the disease rapidly spread across the globe causing panic, anxiety, racism and sometimes false hope. The chapter examines the different sources of COVID-19 misinformation that led to the infodemic and then analyses the implications of the infodemic on Zimbabwe. The chapter uses secondary data in the form of available documents and reports on COVID-19 misinformation. Qualitative thematic analysis was used to analyse the collected data. The results show that COVID-19 infodemic is one of the factors that have prolonged and intensified the pandemic. This is because there was an overabundance of false information, especially on social media platforms, which made it difficult for affected people to get reliable guidance when they needed it. Zimbabwe, like most African countries, has been equally impacted because there is limited capacity to counter health misinformation. There are no specific indicators permitting the monitoring of misinformation and its impact. There is therefore a need for different stakeholders in the country to partner in the development of robust infodemic management strategies and/or policies. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023.