BACKGROUND: The current 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak is rapidly evolving. You. Tube has been recognized as a popular source of information in previous disease outbreaks. We analyzed the content on You. Tube about n-CoV in English and Mandarin languages. METHODS: You. Tube was searched using the terms '2019 novel coronavirus', 'Wuhan virus' and '' (Mandarin for Wuhan virus) on 1st and 2nd February 2020. First 50 videos in each group were analyzed. Videos in other languages, duplicate videos, those without an audio and duration >15 min were excluded .72 videos in English and 42 in Mandarin were reviewed. 2 reviewers classified the videos as useful, misleading or news based on pre specified criterion. Inter-observer agreement was evaluated with kappa coefficient. Modified DISCERN index for reliability and medical information and content index (MICI) score were used for content analysis. RESULTS: These videos attracted cumulative 21,288,856 views. 67% of English and 50% Mandarin videos had useful information. The viewership of misleading Mandarin videos was higher than the useful ones. WHO accounted for only 4% of useful videos. Mean DISCERN score for reliability was 3.12/5 and 3.25/5 for English and Mandarin videos respectively. Mean cumulative MICI score of useful videos was low (6.71/25 for English and 6.28/25 for Mandarin). CONCLUSIONS: You. Tube viewership during 2019 n-CoV outbreak is higher than previous outbreaks. The medical content of videos is suboptimal International health agencies are underrepresented. Given its popularity, You. Tube should be considered as important platform for information dissemination.
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