The COVID-19 pandemic is fast driving the ways of life and economies. In this study, we used Zimbabwe as a case study to assess how different forms of media are being utilised to access information of the COVID-19 disease (across age, educational level, and employment status). We investigated people’s perceptions of the origins of COVID-19, its implication on the continued consumption of meat from wildlife species by humans, and management strategies of wildlife species that harbour the coronavirus. We gathered 139 responses using an online structured questionnaire survey. Social media platforms were used to acquire information on the COVID-19 pandemic when compared to traditional sources (television, radio, and newspapers). Most respondents thought that the COVID-19 virus was created by humans (n = 55, mostly the young and middle-aged) while others believed that it originated from animals (n = 54, mostly middle-aged with postgraduate qualifications). The majority (73%) of respondents who cited COVID-19 origin as animals also supported a ban on consumption of meat from the species. The middle-aged respondents (in comparison to the young and older respondents) and those who were employed (compared to the unemployed) were more likely to support the ban in wildlife trade. The likelihood of visiting wildlife centres given the consequences of COVID-19 was significantly lower in the old-aged respondents when compared to the young and the middle-aged respondents. Our results emphasize the need for science to penetrate social media circles to provide appropriate information. The observed perceptions about visiting wildlife centres could negatively impact conservation funding.

COVID-19大流行正在迅速推动人们的生活方式和经济发展。在这项研究中，我们以津巴布韦为例，评估了如何利用不同形式的媒体来访问COVID-19疾病的信息（跨年龄，受教育程度和就业状况）。我们调查了人们对COVID-19起源的看法，其对人类持续食用野生动植物物种的肉的含义以及带有冠状病毒的野生生物物种的管理策略的理解。我们使用在线结构化问卷调查收集了139条回复。与传统来源（电视，广播和报纸）相比，社交媒体平台可用于获取有关COVID-19大流行的信息。大多数受访者认为COVID-19病毒是由人类造成的（n = 55，多数是年轻人和中年人），而其他人则认为它起源于动物（n = 54，大多数是具有研究生学历的中年人）。将COVID-19起源视为动物的大多数（73％）受访者也支持禁止食用该物种的肉。中年受访者（与年轻和年长受访者相比）和受雇者（与失业者相比）更有可能支持禁止野生动植物贸易。与年轻和中年受访者相比，考虑到COVID-19的后果，在老年人中受访者访问野生动物中心的可能性要低得多。我们的结果强调，科学需要渗透社交媒体圈子以提供适当的信息。