COVID-19: An Emotional Analysis

Abstract

In 2019, the Coronavirus (COVID-19) spread throughout the world. It was soon declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). Following the declaration, many countries imposed lockdowns and various other restrictions on their citizens. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify the differences in the emotional responses of the people, living in different countries, towards the lockdown. This was done by conducting an emotional analysis of the tweets of the citizens of Singapore, Italy, and USA after their respective governments’ announcement of the lockdown by using an emotion-analyzing software. The results showed that there were significant differences between the three selected countries in terms of several emotional responses measured. The study revealed that the differences were influenced by sociocultural differences of the respective societies, the citizens’ experience of the pandemic, and the efficacy of the government’s response.