Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Toward Coronavirus Disease-19 Infection Among Residents of Delhi Ncr, India: A Cross-Sectional Survey Based Study

Abstract

Objective: In the given study, we have carried out a survey among general population of Delhi NCR (India) for the knowledge, perceptions, and attitude toward coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and also attempted to reach to a few conclusions in the form of recommendations.
 Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire based online survey (using Google Forms) was conducted between April 2020 and May 2020 to investigative knowledge, perceptions, and attitude toward COVID-19. Chi-square test was used for the computation of p-value.
 Results: There were total 823 respondents, with 43.01% females and 56.98% males. Around 73.74% respondents believe that it has become a social stigma. About 75.09% were of the opinion that sneezing etiquettes can help in curbing the infection. About 93.43% of study population follows the personal hygiene, 24.78% wished to get insurance coverage. Similarly, interesting data were collected over different aspects of COVID-19.
 Conclusions: The current pandemic is the first exposure at such a large scale to the existing population but with the progression of time, authorities and general population are collating knowledge about the same. It is to be fought at all the fronts such as medical, social, economic, and psychological. Hence, this type of survey becomes an important tool in decision making.

A systematic review and meta-analysis on the prevalence of stigma in infectious diseases, including COVID-19: a call to action

“…There were 16 studies from Africa [ 14 , 24 , 59 , 68 – 73 , 75 – 79 , 84 , 88 ], 25 studies from Asia [ 22 , 60 , 61 , 64 – 66 , 74 , 80 , 81 , 83 , 86 , 87 , 90 – 95 , 97 – 99 , 101 , 102 , 104 , 105 ], and others were conducted in Europe [ 67 , 89 , 96 ], North America [ 62 , 63 , 85 , 100 , 103 ] and South America [ 82 ]. More than half (27 studies) of the studies were conducted within community populations [ 22 , 60 , 66 , 69 – 72 , 74 , 76 , 79 – 81 , 83 , 85 – 88 , 90 , 91 , 93 , 95 , 99 – 104 ], while others consisted of health care workers (13 studies) [ 60 , 61 , 63 , 64 , 67 , 77 , 78 , 84 , 89 , 92 , 94 , 96 , 105 ] and patients (eight studies) [ 14 , …”

“…More than half (27 studies) of the studies were conducted within community populations [ 22 , 60 , 66 , 69 – 72 , 74 , 76 , 79 – 81 , 83 , 85 – 88 , 90 , 91 , 93 , 95 , 99 – 104 ], while others consisted of health care workers (13 studies) [ 60 , 61 , 63 , 64 , 67 , 77 , 78 , 84 , 89 , 92 , 94 , 96 , 105 ] and patients (eight studies) [ 14 , 24 , 59 , 68 , 73 , 75 , 97 , 98 ]. Of the 50 articles, 10 studies [ 24 , 59 , 73 , 75 , 80 , 82 , 85 , 91 , 97 , 105 ] used modified scales for measuring stigma, while other studies measured the stigma by using one or more questions [ 14 , 22 , 60 – 72 , 74 , 76 – 79 , 81 , 83 , 84 , 86 – 90 , 92 – 96 , 98 – 104 ] (Table 1 ).…”

“…Stigma can be a hindrance for the public to have an accurate understanding of the disease and can impose an adverse effect on the control of infectious disease epidemics. For example, during the COVID-19 epidemic, patients were reluctant to disclose their symptoms and see doctors at the early stage when COVID-19 became a social stigma [ 81 ]. Patients recovered from COVID-19 infections were even denied to take public transportation, assaulted on the street, or interfered with in their normal work [ 15 , 16 ], which might increase their psychological stress and negatively affect the control of the pandemic.…”

COVID-19 related stigma among the general population in Iran

“… Tee, 2020 [ 51 ] Philippines; Urban and rural Adult residents of Luzon Islands 1879; Snowball Perceived 15.5% Items: Feeling of being discriminated by other countries due to the outbreak of COVID-19. Online Aqeel, 2020 [ 32 ] India; Urban Adult residents of Delhi.NCR 823; Systematic random Enacted 73.3% Items: COVID-19 infection has become a social stigma; Therefore, the patients are reluctant to disclose their symptoms at the early stage. Online.…”

Knowledge, Perception, Attitude, Practice, and Barriers towards COVID-19 Infection among Saudi Residents in the Period of Rapid Outbreak of the Disease: A Cross Sectional Survey

“…Subsequently, there is an urgent need to find the animal source from whom the virus jumped to human. However it is not yet clear that the virus jumped from snake source or bat source [7][8][9][10]. The other animal which is doubted to be the source is pangolins [11].…”