2.1 Demographic Distribution
A total of 1132 respondents comprising 331 (29.2%) females and 799 (70.6%) males participated in this survey (Figure 1).. Participants were divided into four age groups, group I was <25 years, group II was 25–40 years with the highest response percentage (62.9), group III was 41–60 years and group IV was >60 years with the least response percentage (1.3) (Figure 2).. Survey participants were divided into four groups on the basis of educational level, bachelor (33.2%), Master/MPhil with the highest response percentage (58.7), PhD (7.7%) and only 0.4 % response was obtained from others (Figure 3).. A survey response was gathered from different professions including academic staff with the highest frequency (45.8%), non academic staff (20.8%), healthcare professionals (7.8%), security forces personnel being least (5.9%) and others (19.7%) (Figure 4)..
2.2 Question wise Responses and Percentages
To access the basic knowledge of COVID–19, an overwhelming majority of participants (93.29%) were aware that it is a viral disease. In query regarding the prevalence of COVID–19, 39.19% reported no case in their residing area, while 23.14% reported less than 10 cases, 10.07% reported 10–50 cases, 13.34% reported more than 50 cases and 16.61% had no idea regarding it. When respondents were asked about the possible origin of COVID–19, the majority (45.41%) was of the opinion that bat is the origin and 36.75% people were not sure. In a query about seasonality of COVID–19, 65.81% of respondents agree that it is not seasonal and 10.34% were of view that it is seasonal while 22.26% did not know. Most of the respondents (70.67%) were of the view that direct contact with infected persons, cough droplets, hand shaking, visiting hospitals and public gathering, all could cause COVID–19 infection.
In question assessing the knowledge about common signs and symptoms of COVID–19, (77.65%) of the respondents believed that cough, fever, headache and shortness of breath are most common. Only 19.26% thought there might be symptoms other than above mentioned. In response to a query about the available vaccine of COVID–19, the majority of the study respondents (88.43%) revealed that there is no vaccine developed yet. It was interesting to know that (89.65%) of the respondents mentioned lung problems as a major complication of COVID–19.
Most of the respondents (85.07%) believed that they could prevent from COVID–19 infection by doing collective practices including hand washing, wearing masks, self quarantine and social distancing however little showed inclination to single practice self quarantine (8.22%) and hand washing (4.77%). As laid in Table 1 majority of the respondents (71.29%) were of the view that healthcare workers are at high risk of getting infected with COVID–19. However (19.26%) also considered field workers at risk.
In present study two questions were asked to assess the hygiene practices among people during the COVID–19 outbreak, hourly hand washing practice was reported by (50.18%) and (41.43%) of the respondents said that they are likely to practice it when they come home. With regards to personal hygiene 68.20% reported daily bathing.
When people were asked about the source of information about COVID–19, (29.06%) of respondents stated that newspaper and TV were the most trusted source, (31.45%) rely on friends, official apps, government databases, emails, social media and telecommunication authorities (10.95%). When asked about restricted mobility during COVID–19 majority (66.78%) were strongly agreed and (23.06%) were agreed to the statement. From the data collected it is evident that half of the respondents (49.20%) strongly agree to consider masks as a compulsory tool to avoid COVID–19. To evaluate the attitude of people to public events, responses showed that (95.85%) people avoid religious gatherings, musical festivals and sport events during the COVID- 19 outbreak in the country.
In query regarding satisfaction on Government arrangements for screening people at entry ports overall (21.91%) respondents showed disagreement while more than half (57.43%) reported satisfaction. When asked about public awareness campaigns on COVID–19 by the government, an overall (74.83%) response was satisfactory. Only a few (6.01%) of respondents were unsatisfied.
A prevailing myth is that Vitamin C can be directly protective against COVID–19, our study got 72% responses in affirmation, only few responses (6.36%) in No and 20.94% were unaware about it. In a query regarding government/institutional response and arrangements to protect the community from COVID–19, most of the respondents (27.56%, 54.77%) showed their trust on these activities. However, dissatisfaction was also expressed by (15.28%) by saying that government/institutional responses do not meet their expectations. A large number (73.06%) of the participants of study stated that closure of their institutions/ lockdown to contain COVID–19 has affected their productivity.
In our study more than half of the respondents (51.33%) said that the current situation is moderately stressful while for (36.40%) it is stressful. Response of (10.16%) showed that they are not affected by the current situation of COVID–19. Partial lock down is implemented in the country due to the pandemic situation of COVID–19, our study assessed that staying at home caused anxiety, depression and fatigue in (24.2%) of participants while (20.23%) expressed fear and blood pressure issues along with above mentioned problems, 13.52% fear and loneliness and 10.16% expressed only fear. The overall observation of the activities revealed that while staying at home (44.52%) people spend time sleeping, on social media and TV news. While (55.48%) were engaged in other activities. A query “when the COVID–19 may be over from your area? Got mixed responses, (22.88%) said that it will persist long, (36.40%) showed no idea and (33.92%) said that it will go away very soon.
2.3 Distribution of responses with respect to age, gender, educational level and occupation
In Table 2 we considered the responses to the questions with respect to age, gender, educational level and occupation. Pearson chi-square test showed the chi-square values and significant mean difference for each question. Mean difference value of 0.05 or less was considered statistically significant. Variation and similarity of responses were assessed by this test. With respect to basic knowledge of COVID–19, significant variation was observed with age group (0.000*) Query regarding the prevalence of COVID–19 got significant variations for all variables except gender responses (0.083), Significant variation was observed with respect to query regarding the possible origin of COVID–19 in gender and occupation responses (0.009*, 0.013*). A query about seasonality of COVID–19 got significant results only in educational group responses (0.000*).
On questions concerning possible ways of getting infected with COVID–19 there was also significant variability in responses of all variables i. e., age, gender, educational level and occupation (.002*.007*.000*.043*). On the question about common signs and symptoms of COVID–19, we found significant variations in responses with respect to age, gender and educational groups (.004*.001*.000*). Interestingly myth about prevention of vitamin C against COVID–19, gathered significant variations in responses from educational and occupational groups (.000* .001*). For knowing about the vaccine availability and possible complications of COVID- 19, significant variations were observed with respect to age and educational group (.000*,.000*, 002*). It is clear from the significant responses that people are well aware of the protective measures against COVID–19 with respect to all variables in table 2 (.004*.043*.001 .018*).
When asked about the occupation at risk to COVID–19, significant variations were observed from educational and occupation groups (.000* .009*). In our study significant variations were observed in responses to queries about disinfecting practices with regard to age, gender and educational groups. Variation in responses were observed from educational groups (.000*) when people were asked about the source of getting information about COVID–19. Significant variations in the responses from all variables in table 2 showed that COVID–19 has restricted their mobility except in gender group (.000* 0.712.001*.003*). Response from age group with significant value (.002*) showed that for this group wearing a mask is compulsory as a protective measure against COVID–19. We observed significant variation in responses (.000*) from different educational groups when they were asked to avoid public gatherings to contain COVID–19.
Significant variations were gathered in responses with respect to almost all variables when participants were asked about the government arrangements taken for screening at entry point, people awareness campaigns and government and institutional response to protect the community from COVID–19 (Table 2).. Insignificant variations in responses (0.086 0.756 0.053 0.883) showed that closing of institutes did not pose any effect on respondent’s productivity. However current situation is stressful for all variables except occupational group as shown by significant value in Table 2 (..011*.000* .000*).
Significant and insignificant both variations were observed in the responses when participants were asked about their activities during partial lock down (Table 2).. On the question when COVID–19 outbreak will go away from their area, significant variation in responses was observed with respect to age group (.011*).