Biology Department, Princess Norah Bint Abdulrahman University, Saudi Arabia.
Department of Biological Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia.
J Infect Public Health. 2020 Oct;13(10):1446-1452. doi: 10.1016/j.jiph.2020.06.015. Epub 2020 Jun 17.
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a new variable of the Coronaviridae family. COVID-19 spreads primarily by contacting the virus either from a COVID-19-infected individual through coughing or sneezing or from COVID-19-contaminated surfaces. On March 12, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced COVID-19 as a pandemic. The government of Saudi Arabia was among the first countries in the world to take quick and serious precautions. The Ministry of Health (MOH) has made the public aware of the virus transmission patterns and the importance of quarantine and curfew. Despite strict measures taken, the awareness of people towards infectious viruses remains the most important factor in limiting the widespread of diseases.
A cross-sectional survey of 1767 participants, was conducted to explore the awareness, attitude and practice of COVID-19 in relation to socioeconomic data among residents in the city of Riyadh.
Of all the participants, 58% showed a moderate level of awareness, 95% presented a high attitude and 81% presented an adequate practice regarding COVID-19. Significant positive correlation between awareness-attitude (r = 0.132, p-value < 0.001) and attitude-practice (r = 0.149, p-value < 0.001) were found. The gender of the participants was the only common characteristic significantly associated with both awareness and practice. This study revealed that males showed a slight increase (60%) in the level of awareness compared to female participants (57%), however, when it comes to the practice towards COVID-19, females showed slightly better practice (82%) than males (80%). The World health organization (WHO) and the Ministry of Health (MOH) were the main sources of information.
Despite the moderate public awareness, their attitude and practice were better. Therefore, public awareness must be improved to be prepared for epidemic and pandemic situations. A comprehensive public health education program is important to increase awareness and to reach sufficient knowledge.
冠状病毒病（COVID-19）是由冠状病毒科家族的一种新变量引起的传染病。COVID-19 主要通过与 COVID-19 感染者咳嗽或打喷嚏时呼出的病毒或与 COVID-19 污染的表面接触传播。2020 年 3 月 12 日，世界卫生组织（WHO）宣布 COVID-19 为大流行。沙特阿拉伯政府是世界上首批迅速采取严厉预防措施的国家之一。卫生部（MOH）使公众了解病毒传播模式以及隔离和宵禁的重要性。尽管采取了严格的措施，但人们对传染性病毒的认识仍然是限制疾病广泛传播的最重要因素。
对 1767 名参与者进行了横断面调查，以探讨与感染 COVID-19 相关的社会经济数据在利雅得市居民中的意识、态度和实践。
所有参与者中，58%表现出中等水平的意识，95%表现出高度的态度，81%表现出对 COVID-19 的充分实践。意识-态度（r = 0.132，p 值 < 0.001）和态度-实践（r = 0.149，p 值 < 0.001）之间存在显著正相关。参与者的性别是唯一与意识和实践均显著相关的共同特征。本研究表明，与女性参与者（57%）相比，男性参与者的意识水平略有提高（60%），然而，在对 COVID-19 的实践方面，女性的实践略好（82%）高于男性（80%）。世界卫生组织（WHO）和卫生部（MOH）是信息的主要来源。
尽管公众的意识水平适中，但他们的态度和实践更好。因此，必须提高公众的意识，为应对疫情和大流行做好准备。全面的公共卫生教育计划对于提高认识和获得足够的知识非常重要。
