Internet searches and social media data have been reported to correlate with traditional surveillance data and can even predict the outbreak of disease epidemics several days or weeks earlier [4]. A recent study found that searches on COVID-19 correlated with the published data on daily incidence of laboratory-confirmed and suspected cases of COVID-19 in China, with the maximum r > 0.89 [4]. Also, in Taiwan, in response to the ongoing outbreak, analyses demonstrated that Google ® Trends could potentially define the proper timing and location for practicing appropriate risk communication strategies to the affected population. Authors found high to moderate correlations between Google® relative search volume and COVID-19 cases by administrative levels, as we did [5]. In Iran, the linear regression model using the Google ® Trends predicted the incidence of COVID-19 [6]. In previous outbreaks due to coronaviruses, such as the SARS and MERS, in 2002 and 2012, different approaches were used to predict outbreaks using social media and Google ® searches.