Effective Public Health Communication in the COVID‑19 Era

Although coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‑19) was declared a pandemic on March 11th, 2020, COVID‑19‑related misinformation and fear achieved a “pandemic” status much sooner than the disease itself, and the World Health Organization (WHO) launched an important platform to fight the “COVID‑19 infodemic”.[1] Myths and false information about COVID‑19 have been abundant (e.g., conspiracy theories about the origin of SARS‑CoV‑2, perceptions against Asian populations, inhale/exhale tests for detecting patients, disinfecting the body by excessive alcohol consumption or spraying chlorine over the body, and SARS‑CoV‑2 transmission by mosquito bites).