Student ambassadors: Iman Taleb | Judy Alsoufi
Coronavirus
TOP KEYWORDS:
فيروس كورونا Coronavirus | صحة Health | حالات Cases | العالمية World | الناشئة / النامية Emerging/Developing | ينتشر Spreading | جديد New | مُصاب Infected | كوفيد -19 Covid-19 | وبائي Epidemic
2 January: no articles.
3 January: no articles.
14 January: there is one article which explains what is Coronavirus and the family of virus it belongs to.
11 January: the first time Coronavirus is used.
15 January: The article available speaks of how the American Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in Washington warned its citizens in China of the ‘new’ coronavirus.
17 January: there are reports of the second death due to Coronavirus. Some mentions of the ‘mysterious virus’.
19 January: Corona referred to as a ‘ghost’ due to lack of sufficient knowledge around it. Again the virus is spoken of as a ‘family of viruses’ and the history of the virus. There are reports about the causes and symptoms; how it spreads the most in the winter; and, preventive measures to stop its spreading.
21 January: the keywords are corona (110), virus (83), China (49), cases (37), new (34), Wuhan (33). There are reports of the US confirming the first case of Coronavirus. There are reports giving scientific information about ‘the mysterious virus’, e.g. the virus does not spread from animal to human.
22 January: articles tripled from the previous day. The keywords are: corona, virus and China. There are reports about the drop in the prices of oil and goal as there is fear the virus spreads. The term, warn, is frequent as they are noticing how fast the virus spreads.
27 January: there are reports about how Hollywood made a movie telling a story similar to what to expect from the Coronavirus epidemic. The official information about Coronavirus is originated in China.
2 February: there are reports about how different countries are responding to Coronavirus, e.g. Iraq is preventing entry from China, Libya is withdrawing their students from Wuhan, Egypt is developing comprehensive plans to combat the virus, Saudi Arabia is pulling 10 students from China. There are reports about North Korea tightening measures at their airport.
3 February: it is possible to observe the economic consequences of Coronavirus as the US stocks are at its lowest. Because the UK is allocating 20 million pounds to develop a vaccine there is a notion of Coronavirus being serious.
5 February: there are denounces of Asians experiencing racism. Some reports speculates if Coronavirus is a new biological weapon.
7 February: the WHO announces a shortage in personal protective equipment. There are reports of the death of the doctor who announced Coronavirus for the first time.
8 February: there is questioning about Coronavirus being a divine punishment.
9 February: there is a lot of speculation, even questions about who is behind the virus?
10 February: Coronavirus is regarded as a serious threat to the local and global economy. There are reports about Trump expecting the virus to end by April.
11 February: death toll in China surpasses 1000.
18 February: the reports passed from reporting the number to the economic repercussions.
13 February: titles are around the following topics: ’Significant increase’ – ‘High record for number of deaths’ – ‘Vietnam imposes quarantine on 10.000 citizens’
20 February: there are plans for Egypt Air to resume flights to China.
25 February: Trump stated ‘Corona is under control in the US’. ‘Iran’ and ‘Italy’ are frequently mentioned as those countries presenting cases.
26 February: there is fear Coronavirus is turning into an epidemic; hence, they are urging governments to prepare for the virus. The Olympic Games are still planned to happen.
29 February: France bans gatherings of more than 15 people at one time, which translates into Muslims having to ‘ban’ Fridays. The Iranian Parliament is paralysed.
3 March: the frequency of the phrase ‘work from home’ is increasing.
4 March: there are reports about Italy closing schools to stop the spread of the virus
5 March: there is panic and raids in supermarkets.
6 March: Saudi Arabia is amongst the least affected countries by Coronavirus. There are reports of Washington declaring a state of emergency.
7 March: ‘Spread’ (313) and ‘Cases’ (320) amongst most-used words indicating alarm.
9 March: Italy declares nation-wide lockdown.
11 March: the WHO declares Coronavirus a pandemic.
12 March: there are reports about everything that it is being cancelled and the closures: events, lockdowns, business.
13 March: in Morocco, classes at all schools and universities are suspended.
15 March: there are several reports discussing how to prevent the virus and suggesting naturist remedies.
16 March: several countries are closing its border.
17 March: the government created websites to inform about the virus.
19 March: there are urgings to stay at home.
20 March: there is speculation due to political tensions as some suspect Iran is hiding behind the virus to intensify its attacks.
21 March: Discussions of the trends of the virus, e.g. more elderly dying than young people.
22 March: there are reports about the high mortality in UK. On the other hand, some news reports focus on Trump promoting hydroxy chloroquine to treat the virus.
26 March: there are rumours of a second wave of the pandemic.
28 March: Lots of suggestions of things to do in quarantine: reading, exercising, etc.
29 March: Top-ranking keywords: Health (1437), Cases (1406), Number of/Amount (1223), World (1207), Spreading (1071), Emerging (1043), Today (1004), New (947), President (864) – closer inspection of العالم = world: specification of how many cases of coronavirus around the world (650.000 as of 29 March), comparison with the rest of the world.
30 March: difficult is a frequent term as there is a recognition of the difficult circumstances derived from the pandemic. There are reports about the nobility of certain behaviours during uneasy circumstances, e.g. volunteers. The notion that it is an ever-evolving is clear as the phrase ‘the past week’ (الأسبوع الماضي) is popular; it refers to a comparison with the previous week. Another phrase which occurred on one day 31 times was ‘على مستوى العالم’, which translates to ‘on a global scale’. Again, upon closer inspection, it appeared the countries compared how they were dealing with coronavirus and the amount of cases they had with other countries.
3 April: ‘رئيس’ = president/prime minister/head is a frequent term as there are reports of what they have said related to Coronavirus.
4 April: Most used keywords: In addition to previously mentioned 10, 04/04 includes China (472), Medical (692), Work (789)
6 April: the most frequent report is about Manchester United defender Luke Shaw.
7 April: ‘Allah – 592 times – الله – besides name Abdullah which includes the name Allah, and praises such as ‘May God protect him’ after naming one of their kings or leaders, allah was used a lot in following context: ‘trust in god’, ‘with God's permission’, ‘God willing’ – these phrases are known to be used in times of uncertainty –متضرعا في الأخير إلى "الله العلي القدير أن يرفع عنا هذا الوباء". - “God Almighty be able to lift this epidemic from us.”
11 April: Top-ranking keywords: Corona (8921), Virus (4079), Health (1546), Cases (1381), etc (usual keywords) – additional top-ranking keywords: Medical (590), Epidemic (582), Allah (God) (555), Citizens (550)
13 April: there is narrative around the term ‘emerging’ as they follow the emerging Coronavirus outbreaks.
14 April: keywords: Corona (9232), Virus (4226), Health (1749), Cases (1498), Emerging (1187), World (1176), Amount/Number of (1158), Today (1045)
15 April: الشهر الماضي’ – previous month is used 17 times as comparisons are now made in a monthly basis after being weekly the previous month.
16 April: keywords: Corona (7203), Virus (3697), Health (1460), Cases (1112), World (1014), Emerging (991), Amount/Number of (882), President/Prime minister/Head (826).
17 April: keywords: Corona (6690), Virus (3267), Cases (1222), Health (1212), Number of/Amount (913), World (889).
18 April: top-ranking keywords: Covid (623), Work/Job (591), Measures (563), Government (526), Doctor (515), Egypt (556). There are plenty reports about Coronavirus in Egypt.
19 April: Top keywords: Corona (9320), Virus (3981), Cases (1512), Health (1378), Number of/Amount (1216), World (1138).
22 April: keywords: Corona (7498), Virus (3432), Cases (1278), Health (1217), World (1049), Number of/Amount (1003), Today (875).
24 April: مضان- Ramadan used more times than health – because this is the day the month of Ramadan began which is a holy month and one of the most important months for Muslims. Several reports discuss how different Ramadan will be due to Coronavirus
26 April: Closer inspection of keyword ‘today’ (used 747 times): comparison of how things are today with regard to coronavirus to yesterday( e.g. Meat prices witnessed a state of stability in local markets today), news of the day (e.g. ‘A press conference today, Sunday, confirming that activities in the country will gradually return’ or ‘His Excellency wrote today in a tweet on Twitter…’).
27 April: ‘جديدة’ – ‘new’ is a frequent term related to new cases, new deaths, new infections.
29 April: المالية – financial – used 361 times – correlates with الاقتصاد – economy – used 364 times.
30 April: Second most used word has now switched from ‘health’ to ‘cases’ (1287 times) – after that it’s ‘health’ (1197) but immediately followed by ‘amount’ (875) concerning amount of people affected – then ‘number’, specifically ‘عدد’ indicating enumeration, upon closer inspection: number of people affected.
COVID
TOP KEYWORDS:
كورونا Corona | فايروس Virus | صحة Health | المستجدة Emerging | إيطاليا Italy | حالات Cases | سنة Year | جديد New | وطني National | العالمية World
2 January: no articles.
3 January: no articles.
11 January: no articles.
14 January: no articles.
15 January: no articles.
17 January: no articles.
19 January: no articles.
21 January: no articles.
22 January: no articles.
27 January: no articles.
2 February: no articles.
3 February: no articles.
5 February: no articles.
7 February: no articles.
8 February: no articles.
9 February: no articles.
10 February: no articles.
11 February: announcement of the new name for Coronavirus as ‘Covid-19’.
13 February: there are questions about why the WHO decided to name the disease Covid-19. There is an explanation that it is that strain of Coronavirus and the year (2019).
18 February: ‘Covid-19´ is an accepted term, mostly used in brackets after ‘Coronavirus’.
20 February: the Minister of Health of Bahrain is participating in a meeting to confront the Coronavirus.
25 February: talk of Covid-19 surrounding topics of health. E.g. ‘prevention of Covid-19’.
26 February: term used in brackets after mention of Coronavirus.
29 February: Mentions of Covid-19 relating to ‘cases’ or, again, after using the term ‘coronavirus’.
3 March: First case of Covid-19 in Saudi Arabia, he got it after travelling to Iran.
4 March: Declaration of state of emergency in California.
5 March: One of the most-used keywords is ‘Iran’ (29).
6 March: most-used keywords are Corona (54) followed by Covid (52).
9 March: Covid-19 is mostly used after ‘coronavirus’.
12 March: Covid-19, mostly used after Coronavirus.
13 March: Covid-19, again, mostly used after ‘coronavirus’.
15 March: Covid-19, again, mostly used after ‘coronavirus’.
16 March: the term used in brackets after mentioning Coronavirus.
17 March: Covid-19 used in brackets next to Coronavirus.
19 March: the term is used in brackets after the term Coronavirus.
21 March: Term used in brackets after mention of coronavirus.
22 March: Covid-19, again, mostly used after ‘coronavirus’.
26 March: the term is used in brackets after the term Coronavirus.
28 March: Covid-19, again, mostly used after ‘coronavirus’.
30 March: Covid-19 is inserted in context and skipped through to meaningful mentions.
3 April: no articles.
4 April: Again, most talk of Covid-19 relating to health councils, medicine and less regarding community or social matters.
6 April: Most used words: Coronavirus (133), Health (52), Cases (48) – talk surrounding health: regarding health and safety measures for citizens, the World Health Organization statements, Ministry of Health statements
7 April: no articles.
11 April: no articles.
12 April: Talk around Covid-19 is, again, very medical (patients, health, cases) – also ‘Italy’ high-ranking keyword: coronavirus as emerging in Italy, specifying number of infections in Italy.
14 April: no articles.
15 April: no articles.
16 April: no articles.
17 April: no articles.
18 April: no articles.
19 April: Medical/Scientific usage of ‘Covid-19’ – e.g. ‘Scientists and researchers in Saudi universities work as a team to address Covid-19’.
22 April: no articles.
24 April: no articles.
26 April: no articles.
27 April: no articles.
30 April: top keywords: Virus (24), Council (19), National (18), Bahrain (18).
29 April: Most used word after ‘coronavirus’ – ‘العمل’ – meaning: work – used 44 times – mostly relating to safely working under coronavirus conditions