Abstract：Objective To analyze the information about coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on WeChat official accounts of centers for disease control and prevention (CDCs) in Zhejiang Province from January 20 to February 5,2020,so as to provide reference for improving the effects of health communication by WeChat official accounts. Methods The number,content and pageview of the information about COVID-19 on WeChat official accounts of one provincial and eleven municipal CDCs from January 20 to February 5 were collected and analyzed. The number of new followers and WeChat communication power index (WCI) were employed to evaluate the communication effect. Results By February 5,those WeChat public official accounts pushed 629 pieces of information about COVID-19. The pageviews were 3 713 428 in total and 5 903.70 on average. There were totally 633 008 followers,including 110 341 new followers which contributed to a growth rate of 21.11%. The average WCI was 677.81. The WCIs of eight official accounts were higher than 500,with “Zhejiang Health Education” the highest (1 021.95). The daily pageviews peaked on January 20,21,25 and 31. Among the top 15 pieces of information in pageviews,there were 7 pieces for epidemic announcements,3 pieces for popular science and 5 pieces for behavioral intervention. Conclusions The WeChat official accounts of CDCs in Zhejiang Province pushed the information about COVID-19 in line with the progress of the epidemic and the demand of the public,leading to a higher attention and better communication effect.
