Hu Guangyu, Li Peiyi, Yuan Changzheng, Tao Chenglin, Wen Hai, Liu Qiannan, Qiu Wuqi
Institute of Medical Information/Center for Health Policy and Management, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.
World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Health and Biomedical Information, Beijing, China.
J Med Internet Res. 2020 Aug 27;22(8):e19572. doi: 10.2196/19572.
Information disclosure is a top priority for official responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. The timely and standardized information published by authorities as a response to the crisis can better inform the public and enable better preparations for the pandemic; however, there is limited evidence of any systematic analyses of the disclosed epidemic information. This in turn has important implications for risk communication.
This study aimed to describe and compare the officially released content regarding local epidemic situations as well as analyze the characteristics of information disclosure through local communication in major cities in China.
The 31 capital cities in mainland China were included in this city-level observational study. Data were retrieved from local municipalities and health commission websites as of March 18, 2020. A checklist was employed as a rapid qualitative assessment tool to analyze the information disclosure performance of each city. Descriptive analyses and data visualizations were produced to present and compare the comparative performances of the cities.
In total, 29 of 31 cities (93.5%) established specific COVID-19 webpages to disclose information. Among them, 12 of the city webpages were added to their corresponding municipal websites. A majority of the cities (21/31, 67.7%) published their first cases of infection in a timely manner on the actual day of confirmation. Regarding the information disclosures highlighted on the websites, news updates from local media or press briefings were the most prevalent (28/29, 96.6%), followed by epidemic surveillance (25/29, 86.2%), and advice for the public (25/29, 86.2%). Clarifications of misinformation and frequently asked questions were largely overlooked as only 2 cities provided this valuable information. The median daily update frequency of epidemic surveillance summaries was 1.2 times per day (IQR 1.0-1.3 times), and the majority of these summaries (18/25, 72.0%) also provided detailed information regarding confirmed cases. The reporting of key indicators in the epidemic surveillance summaries, as well as critical facts included in the confirmed case reports, varied substantially between cities. In general, the best performance in terms of timely reporting and the transparency of information disclosures were observed in the municipalities directly administered by the central government compared to the other cities.
Timely and effective efforts to disclose information related to the COVID-19 epidemic have been made in major cities in China. Continued improvements to local authority reporting will contribute to more effective public communication and efficient public health research responses. The development of protocols and the standardization of epidemic message templates-as well as the use of uniform operating procedures to provide regular information updates-should be prioritized to ensure a coordinated national response.
信息披露是官方应对新冠疫情的首要任务。当局及时、规范地发布应对危机的信息，能让公众更好地了解情况，为疫情防控做好更充分准备；然而，对于所披露的疫情信息进行系统分析的证据有限。这反过来对风险沟通具有重要意义。
本研究旨在描述和比较官方发布的关于当地疫情的内容，并分析中国主要城市通过地方传播进行信息披露的特点。
本市级观察性研究纳入了中国大陆的31个省会城市。数据截至2020年3月18日，从当地市政府和卫生健康委员会网站获取。使用一份清单作为快速定性评估工具，分析每个城市的信息披露表现。进行描述性分析和数据可视化，以展示和比较各城市的相对表现。
31个城市中有29个（93.5%）建立了专门的新冠疫情网页来披露信息。其中有12个城市网页添加到了相应的市政府网站。大多数城市（21/31，67.7%）在确诊当天及时公布了首例感染病例。关于网站上突出显示的信息披露，当地媒体的新闻更新或新闻发布会最为普遍（28/29，96.6%），其次是疫情监测（25/29, 86.2%）以及给公众的建议（25/29, 86.2%）。辟谣和常见问题解答在很大程度上被忽视，只有2个城市提供了这些有价值的信息。疫情监测摘要的每日更新频率中位数为每天1.2次（四分位间距为1.0 - 1.3次），并且这些摘要中的大多数（18/25, 72.0%）也提供了确诊病例的详细信息。各城市在疫情监测摘要中的关键指标报告以及确诊病例报告中包含的关键事实方面差异很大。总体而言，与其他城市相比，直辖市在及时报告和信息披露透明度方面表现最佳。
中国主要城市在及时、有效地披露与新冠疫情相关信息方面已做出努力。地方政府报告工作的持续改进将有助于更有效地进行公众沟通和高效开展公共卫生研究应对工作。应优先制定规程并规范疫情信息模板，以及采用统一的操作程序定期提供信息更新，以确保全国协调应对。
