Knowledge, perceptions, attitudes of Egyptians towards the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19)

Knowledge, perceptions, attitudes of Egyptians towards the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19)

Abdelhafiz, Ahmed Samir
Mohammed, Zeinab
Ibrahim, Maha Emad
Ziady, Hany H.
Alorabi, Mohamed
Ayyad, Mohamed
Sultan, Eman A.

English

20201000

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been recognized as a pandemic by the World Health Organization. Global efforts have been exerted to prevent the spreading of the disease through political decisions together with personal behaviors, which depend on awareness of the public. The goal of this study is to assess the knowledge, perceptions and attitude of the Egyptian public towards the COVID-19 disease. We conducted a cross-sectional survey about these points, which was distributed among adult Egyptians. Five hundred and fifty nine persons completed the survey. The mean knowledge score was 16.39 out of 23, gained mainly though social media (66.9%), and the internet (58.3%). Knowledge was significantly lower among older, less educated, lower income participants, and rural residents. Most participants (86.9%) were concerned about the risk of infection. While 37.6% thought that their salary will be continued if they become isolated, 68.5% believed that it should be continued during this period. About 73.0% were looking forward to get the vaccine when available. In general, participants had a good knowledge about the disease and a positive attitude towards protective measures. This knowledge is gained mainly through novel media channels, which have pros and cons. Although the government has taken major steps to educate the public and limit the spread of the disease, more effort is needed to educate and support the lower economic strata. If a vaccine or a treatment is approved, we recommend a government control over its use to preserve the rights of the vulnerable and needy groups.

9.1

9.1; 21.1

attitudes [pri]; communicable diseases [pri]; knowledge [pri]; viruses[pri]

health education; information dissemination; rural population; survey; urban population

Egypt

COVID-19; pandemic; social media

Journal of Community Health. 2020 October;45(5): 881-890

Copyright © 2020, Springer Science Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature. This article is made available via the PMC Open Access Subset for unrestricted research re-use and secondary analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for the duration of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic.

j

e

32 refs.

00945145 (print); 15733610 (online)