Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) knowledge and perceptions: An online community survey in the eastern region of Saudi Arabia - Al Ahsa

Background: The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has been announced as a pandemic by the world health organization since the 11th of March 2020. Case count has been increasing since then thought the world. Healthcare authorities have already initiated awareness and preparedness activities and it is beyond the borders. Misconceptions surrounding a newly discovered disease can impact general population's adherence to precautions and thus leading to a rapid spread of the virus. This study is aimed to investigate knowledge and perceptions of the Saudi community about COVID-19. Methods: A cross-sectional, web-based study was conducted among the community about COVID19 for two weeks starting from 20 March 2020. The questionnaire used is based on a validated and already applied questionnaire, which has 14-items in two parts: Knowledge and Perception. The questionnaire was translated into Arabic and conducted a pilot study for assessing reliability co-efficient. It took 5 minutes to complete the questionnaire and it was circulated through social media. A chi square test was used to investigate the level of association among variables at the significance level of p<0.05. Results: A total of 1011 participants completed the survey, more than 99% of them have heard about pandemic COVID-19. 57.5% were males, 42.5% were female and most of them were within the age group between 18 and 30 years and with the level of education as a bachelor's degree. Nearly 85% obtained their information from social media as a primary source of COVID-19 and followed by almost 60% from governmental authorities as a second source. About 88.3 % were aware of the basic symptoms of COVID-19 and mostly 99.0% exhibited a positive knowledge regarding the preventive measures of COVID-19 that hand hygiene, covering nose. About 92% are aware that there is no benefit from flu vaccination in preventing COVID-19. A significant proportion of participants within different socio demographic data perceived eating well-cooked/handled meat to be safe (p<0.05). Moreover, nearly 74.1% were aware that coronavirus COVID-19 can Leads to pneumonia, respiratory failure, and death (p<0.05). Conclusion: Most participants have good knowledge and perceived that COVID- 19 is dangerous diseases and spread among the community rapidly. It reflects that health care authorities have done their job properly and successful in engaging the community during the crises.