‘Current Covid symptoms’ tops Google searches in South Africa

Cape Town – In the past 90 days, Google searches for “current covid symptoms” have tripled in South Africa, while searches for “latest covid stats South Africa” have increased by 160%.

This is according to the latest Google search trends data.

Searches for “how to make money” is the top “how to make” search in South Africa so far this year, while “how to make money fast as a woman” searches increased by 90%, according to Google.

“We’ve seen this before.

“During the pandemic, businesses that adopted new digital skills built ‘a digital safety net’.

“Working in partnership with governments and other organisations, Google has helped 10 million people to find jobs, digitise and grow across the region - and we stand ready to support again now,” said Google South Africa country director Alistair Mokoena.

With more people using the internet to manage their daily lives than ever, there has been an increase in searches about cybersecurity and privacy.

South African searches for “what is phishing” increased by 80%, while searches for “phishing attack” increased by 70%.

Additionally, search interest around private browsing increased by 20% since this time last year, while searches for privacy have increased by 30% since this time last year.

“People want to embrace technology – but they want to know that their personal information will be safe.

“To help with that, Google has built many of the internet’s first tools to manage confidential data – like the Privacy Checkup, a central place which allows you to review your key privacy settings, and Takeout – where you can download or delete your Google data.

“We are also working with the industry and regulators to make changes across the board – prioritising users' privacy and security,” Mokoena said.

Cape Times