A Survey of the Knowledge of Surveillance Officers and Outbreak Investigation Team toward COVID-19 in North Sumatera Province, Indonesia

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Our world is now facing the public health emergency situation. Since early December 2019, COVID-19 emerged the Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China. The disease is still continuing spread to more than 200 countries and territories globally.
 AIM: This study aimed to assess the knowledge of COVID-19 among the surveillance officers and outbreak investigation team in North Sumatera, Indonesia.
 METHODS: A cross-sectional study was performed between March 5, 2020 and April 20, 2020, among the surveillance officers and outbreak investigation team in North Sumatera province, Indonesia. A set of validated, pre-tested questionnaire was used to measure knowledge regarding COVID-19 infection and to collect a range of explanatory variables. Data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire. A two-step logistic regression analysis was employed to assess the association of participants’ demographic data, level of education, surveillance training, length of work, and location of workplace with the knowledge.
 RESULTS: A total of 246 participants were collected. We found that 109 out of 246 (44.3%) participants were good knowledge of COVID-19. Multivariate model revealed that surveillance training was the most associated variable with knowledge of COVID-19 (OR = 2.15, 95% CI = 1.09–4.27). In addition, as much as 27 participants (79.4%) have good knowledge and also have received surveillance training expressed a willingness to conduct surveillance (OR = 4.75, 95% CI = 1.98–11.39).
 CONCLUSIONS: The knowledge of surveillance officers and outbreak investigation team in North Sumatera regarding COVID-19 is relatively low. Participants who have good knowledge and have received surveillance training expressed a willingness to conduct surveillance of COVID-19 in the community. Therefore, training for surveillance and outbreak investigation team to improve the understanding and skill is a must.