KNOWLEDGE AND AWARENESS OF THE NOVEL CORONAVIRUS DISEASE (COVID-19) PANDEMIC AMONG EGYPTIAN POPULATION

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Clinical Pharmacy Program Student, Faculty of Pharmacy, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt

2 Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt

Abstract

On 11 March 2020, WHO declared the novel Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) a pandemic disease worldwide. With the rapid spread of COVID-19, Egyptians are at a high risk of being infected, as it is the most populous country in the Middle East and North Africa region. The aim of the present study was to assess the knowledge and awareness of Egyptians towards COVID-19. A nationwide cross-sectional study was performed among the general sample of the Egyptian population. One thousand one hundred fifteen individuals participated in the survey with gender distribution of 625 males and 490 females. Descriptive analysis was used to describe the study findings. Most respondents 715 (64.1%) acknowledged that COVID-19 was a serious disease and the majority of them had a good to fair knowledge 1096 (98.3%) about COVID-19. Nasal droplets and touching surfaces were suggested to be the common modes of transmission 1099 (98.6%). Most respondents correctly identified the symptoms of COVID-19 of fever, dry cough and dyspnea. The main sources of information obtained from social media 979 (87.8%), radio-television 611 (54.8%) and Ministry of Health 568 (50.9%). However, only 144 (12.9%) of participants trusted information posted on social media, 605 (54.3%) to some extent while 366 (32.8%) didn't. Despite many participants understood the precautionary measures, but they were unsatisfactory 796 (71.4%) with the public's behavior of obeying the national procedures. The surveyed Egyptians had a good knowledge of COVID-19 and an acceptable understanding of the precautionary measures taken by the government. However, strict national procedures are further needed to enforce such measures to combat the disease.