The Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) “1922” hotline was on Wednesday named the most-searched item on Google in Taiwan over the past year.
The announcement came as part of Google’s “Year in Search 2022” review for Taiwan, which ranked the most popular entries on its search engine from December last year through the end of last month.
In the review, the keywords “Ukraine” and “earthquake” grabbed the second and third spots respectively, while the terms “pandemic” and “World Cup” rounded out the top five.
Photo: REUTERS
Moving down the list, “rapid test map” came in sixth, followed by former Japanese prime minister “Shinzo Abe,” “vaccine reservations” and Taiwan’s “Chinese Professional Baseball League” in spots seven through nine.
“Eison Chai” (艾成), a singer born in Malaysia and popular in Taiwan who fell to his death near Luzhou MRT Station in August, was the 10th most popular search term, the results showed.
COVID-19-related keywords accounted for three of the top 10 searches, while two — Ukraine and Abe — were related to international events and two were sports-focused, Google said in a news release.
In addition to ranking popular search terms, the annual rundown also included lists of Taiwan’s most-searched people, travel destinations and product recommendation requests.
In the list of most-searched people, Taiwanese actor Jimmy Lin (林志穎), who was badly injured in a vehicle crash in July, took first place, followed by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi in second.
Spots three through five were claimed by former Hsinchu mayor Lin Chih-chien (林智堅), actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) and Hsinchu mayor-elect Ann Kao (高虹安), the results showed.
Among international travel destinations, Japan reaffirmed its status as a favorite of Taiwanese tourists, with Okinawa, Tokyo, Osaka and Hokkaido finishing in places one to four, followed by Singapore in the fifth spot.
However, the review’s most revealing perspective on the year might have come in the list of top Taiwanese Google product recommendation requests.
In order, it contained: pulse oximeters, clothes dryers, swimsuits, raincoats, COVID-19 insurance, masks, reusable cups, effervescent tablets, electric blankets and rain boots.
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