Knowledge, Attitude and Practice on Preventive Measures of COVID-19 among People during Second Wave of the Pandemic

Background: COVID-19 is significantly affecting all over the world. Hence the people must be aware about the best preventive measures against this disease. Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practices on preventive measures of COVID-19 among general public. Methods: This was a cross - sectional study conducted among people from a selected area at south India. Online survey was conducted using structured knowledge questionnaire through Google form. Data was collected from 20th April to 20th May 2021 and analyzed using descriptive statistics. Spearman rank correlation, chi - square test and multivariate analysis were used to examine the association between socio-demographic characteristics with knowledge, attitude and practice related to COVID-19. Results: Among 300 participants, 87.3% (262) of the participants had average knowledge, 78.3% (235) of the people had moderate attitude towards COVID-19 and only 1/3rd of the total participants (109) follows good COVID-19 practice. The source of information was found to be a significant influencing factor for knowledge (mean=8.92, pless than0.05) and practice (mean=2.75, pless than0.05) and a positive correlation was observed between knowledge and attitude, knowledge and practice and knowledge and practice (pless than0.001). Conclusion: Most of the people had average knowledge, moderate attitude and only 1/3rd follows good COVID-19 practices. Hence, the constant motivations through educational programmer related to COVID-19 are necessary for public to improve the knowledge, attitude and practices.