Analysis of the spread of COVID-19 in Ukraine using Google Trends tools

The paper is devoted to the analysis of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ukraine based on finding the correlation between search terms in Google search engine and laboratory-confirmed cases. Statistics were obtained from open sources. The analysis was performed on matrices based on the Pearson correlation coefficient. To do this, we analyzed 25 typical search phrases, and after grouping them – 7 remained. The data were reduced to the same discreteness. Correlation matrices were calculated for each wave of the pandemic and for altogether. As a result, the correlation between search phrases and laboratory-confirmed cases was observed only in the second and third waves of the pandemic. Moreover, in the first wave, the preconditions for its occurrence were found; in the second - Pearson’s correlation coefficient was 0.74, and in the third wave, it decreased to 0.57. Other correlations that are specific to each pandemic wave are also analyzed. Additionally, it was proved that polynomials of the 6th degree most effectively restore lost data.