The frequency of news articles, superlative instances, and other general characteristics of news articles focused on the top 6 most popular COVID-19 topics
| Category | Number (%) of news articles (n=255) | Number (%) of superlatives describing category (n=616) | Number of occurrences for each superlative | Number of news articles providing clinical data |
| Antimalarial drugs | 45 (17.6) | 111 (18.0) | Cure (64), game changing (17), breakthrough (11), life-saving (10), miracle (8), groundbreaking (1) | 9 |
| Antiviral drugs | 39 (15.3) | 113 (18.3) | Cure (50), breakthrough (28), game changing (6), groundbreaking (3), miracle (1) | 3 |
| Vaccines | 64 (25.1) | 113 (18.3) | Breakthrough (73), cure (16), life-saving (10), revolutionary (4), groundbreaking (4), transformative (4), game changing (2) | – |
| Detection methods | 72 (28.2) | 146 (23.7) | Game changing (68), breakthrough (52), revolutionary (10), transformative (8), miracle (4), groundbreaking (2), life-saving (1), life-changing (1) | 3 |
| Not mentioned* | 13 (5.1) | 42 (6.8) | Breakthrough (25), cure (11), life-saving (2), life-changing (2), game changing (1), groundbreaking (1) | – |
| Combination† | 8 (3.1) | 25 (4.1) | Cure (12), breakthrough (6), game changing (2), life-changing (2), miracle (2), transformative (1) | 2 |
Eleven prespecified superlative terms: ‘breakthrough’, ‘cure’, ‘game changer’, ‘groundbreaking’, ‘home run’, ‘life-changing’, ‘life-saving’, ‘marvel’, ‘miracle’, ‘revolutionary’, and ‘transformative’.
*Specific therapy was not mentioned by name within the news article.
†Combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin.