Football, Coronavirus dominate Google Search Trends by Kenyans – KBC

According to Google Search Trends, the football craze among Kenyans continued in the month of March with football being the top searched item in the month.

The Chelsea vs Liverpool and Manchester United vs Manchester City matches dominated search queries.

Queries on the Coronavirus pandemic came second with Kenyans wanting to know more about the symptoms of this disease and if there is a vaccine available. Kenyans also searched for information on the disease in Italy, one of the worst hit nations in Europe.

Kenny Rogers, the 81-year-old country music legend, was the third most searched query. He passed away on March 20th, 2020. He was well-known for musical hits such as “The Gambler” and “Coward of the County”.

The fourth most searched query was Aurlus Mabele, a Congolese artist popularly known as the “King of Soukous”. He passed away in Paris after contracting the coronavirus. He was known for up-tempo hits and spectacular dance moves. His popular songs included “Extra Ball’, “Douce Isabella” and “Choc a Distance”.

Project Loon was the fifth popular search, after the Government of Kenya announced the approval of Loon’s partnership with Telkom Kenya to provide 4G internet access to remote areas in Kenya.

The sixth item on the top search list was hantavirus. This is a virus spread mainly by rodents and can cause varied disease syndromes in people. Searches for this virus came up after a man, who tested positive for the virus, died in Yunnan province in China.

Kenya’s recently appointed Cabinet Secretary for Health, Mutahi Kagwe, was seventh on the list of top searches. He has been providing regular media updates on the coronavirus pandemic in Kenya. British actor Idris Elba was the eighth search query after he posted a video on social media announcing that he had contracted the virus.

Trending at ninth place was a building sized asteroid that is approaching Earth in April. According to the data collected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the asteroid is big enough and is moving fast enough to cause a major impact event on the planet.

Tenth in the search query list was sanitiser. Kenyans wanted information on making hand sanitizers following a shortage of the product in shops and supermarkets, and subsequent price increases.

In the ‘how to’ category how to make Hand Sanitiser was the top  search query. The second trending query was how to prevent coronavirus, an indication that Kenyans were keen to know how they can prevent infection.

The third and fourth trending searches – how to file KRA returns and how to check CRB status are recurring queries annually. Kenyans want to know how to file their tax returns after Kenya Revenue Authority increased the penalty for tax defaulters. They also want to know their credit scores as it impacts their ability to get loans.

The fifth trending search in this category is also a recurring search annually – how to reduce tummy. This once again shows the obsession with losing weight and reducing the tummy, proving that the physical appearance of the girth matters. How to boost immunity was the sixth ‘how to’ search query with Kenyans keen to know how to keep healthy especially due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Google Search Trends is a publicly available tool that indicates search patterns over a period of time and shows the clusters of searches that made it to the weekly trending searches in the country. Below are the top trending searches for the month:

Top Trending Searches

1. Chelsea vs Liverpool, Manchester United vs Manchester City
2. Coronavirus update
3. Kenny Rogers
4. Aurlus Mabele
5. Loon
6. Hantavirus
7. Mutahi Kagwe
8. Idris Elba
9. Asteroid
10. Sanitiser, How to Make Sanitiser

Top ‘How to’ Searches

1. How to prevent coronavirus
2. How to file KRA returns
3. How to check CRB status
4. How to reduce tummy
5. How to boost immunity