COVID-related tweets shot up by over 600% during second wave; #SOS appeals gain momentum

Amid the second wave of COVID-19, Twitter posts related to the pandemic shot up by 600% between April 1 and May 31, 2021, and the prayer emoji was the most shared. A number of people took to the social media platform to share information about the availability of medical equipment, hospital beds, vaccine policies. These statistics were published on the Twitter India handle:

• #Covid19 was tweeted 77% more

• Conversations around #vaccinations increased by 246%
• Daily tweets about #Covid-19 increased 7x
• Tweets from medical professionals in India increased by 1.5x

Twitter Enabled Covid-19 Support

The increase of tweets amid the second wave of COVID-19 was facilitated by features introduced by Twitter in 2020, also published in their blog in April 2020. The features included the COVID-19 tab in explore, COVID-19 account verification, global expansion of COVID-19 search prompt, updated user and ad policies, donation matching, and more. Twitter Support also posted a thread on accessing COVID-19 news on the social media platform. 

Increase in Number of SOS Tweets

A number of people took to Twitter to share information about COVID resources. There was an increase in SOS tweets put out on the platform as well under the hashtag #SOS. Twitter India also posted a thread with information and resources for SOS requests. On April 26, the @TwitterIndia handle posted, "If you need a list of SOS resources - access to hospital beds, oxygen, food - please look at the COVID-19 SOS: Resources page. This will update in real-time as people put out their emergency Tweets."

Celebrities and Contributions

A number of SOS tweets were also directed towards actor Sonu Sood's personal page and @SoodFoundation during the second wave. Sood has been actively working on the ground to provide COVID relief since the first wave. Sood was predominantly making headlines for providing transportation to migrant workers in the country. The SOS tweets asked for information regarding ICU beds, oxygen tanks, ventilators, and medical supplies. The Twitter community has been retweeting these posts for higher reach among the masses.

Amidst other public figures, Australian cricketer Pat Cummins took to Twitter, to talk about his donation of $50,000 towards the PM Cares fund, for the purchase of oxygen cylinders in India and encouraged his fellow IPL players to follow in his lead. This led to the tweet that currently has 496.8K likes and 140.1K retweets from users on this platform. Following Cummins, Bret Lee, also an Australian cricketer donated 1 Bitcoin towards COVID relief in India 

(Image: Republic)