This study rests on two important considerations: the rapid increase of COVID-19 cases in Pakistan and also the marginalization of the people of the KPK province, which would make them more vulnerable in fearing COVID-19. We aim to translate and validate FCV-19S into the Urdu language and to identify the socio-demographic associations with fear in the people of the KPK. Using an online Google survey, we were able to sample 501 respondents from the KPK. The Cronbach alpha α value for the Urdu FCV-19S displayed good internal reliability at .846. The unidimensional structure of the FCV-19S in Urdu was confirmed, and all of the items were found to be statistically significant, ranging from 0.59 to 0.80. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis show that fit indices are all within an acceptable limit. The FCV-19S was also significantly and positively correlated with preventive behavior (r = .328, p < .01) and general anxiety (r = .458, p < .01). The results of independent sample t tests show that women (t = 4.086, p < 0.001), married people (t = − 2.709, p < .001), and unemployed people (t = − 3.199, p < 0.001) of the KPK experienced great fear of COVID-19. We conclude that that the Urdu version of the FCV-19S is a valid and reliable tool and must be used by healthcare practitioners, government bodies, and researchers, to identify the prevalence of fear and to subsequently plan improved social and health policies to reduce anxiety in the public.

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