Abstract
In response to the global COVID-19 epidemic, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) government is taking precautionary action to mitigate the spread of the virus. The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge and practices toward COVID-19 among the general public in the UAE during the current outbreak. A cross-sectional online survey of 1356 respondents in the UAE was conducted during the epidemic outbreak between 9th to 24th June-2020. The questionnaire consisted of three sections: Socio-demographic, knowledge, practices. Independent-samples t-test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), chi-square and binary logistic regression was used. A p-value of (p < 0.05) was considered statistically significant. The total correct score of knowledge and practice questions was high 85% and 90%, respectively. Male’s sex, other marital status, and illiterate/primary educational levels had a lower level of knowledge and practices than others. Participants aged 18–29 had little higher knowledge than other ages but had a lower level in practices, people who live in Abu Dhabi had better knowledge and practices than other emirates, employed people had a lower level of knowledge but higher in practices. Binary logistic regression analysis presented that females, 18–29 years, and married participants significantly associated with a higher score of knowledge, while female, over 30 years old, the martial status of singles, college-level and higher, unemployed, were significantly associated with high mean practices score. This study provided a full screening of the knowledge and practices among a sample of residents in The UAE toward COVID-19, continuing to implement the health education programs pursued by the UAE is highly important to maintain the appropriate level of awareness among the public.
Highlights
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), is a respiratory tract infection caused by a new strain of coronavirus, which began in Wuhan, China, in December 2019
Most of participants are married (59.7%), and more than half of respondents are from Sharjah (57.4%), while other respondents were from Dubai, Ajman, and Abu Dhabi
In contrast to the Jordanian study and Iraq [17, 18], our results showed that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) population may depend more on social media, and search engines to get their information about COVID-19, official websites of health authorities (MOHAP) was the main source of their information on COVID-19 (75.2%) Our results were in the line of COVID-19 health awareness other study conducted among students in UAE, as 53.8% and 46.7% were using social media to get the information on COVID-19 [19]
Summary
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), is a respiratory tract infection caused by a new strain of coronavirus, which began in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. United Arab Emirates; WHO, World Health Organization. Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) can lead to acute respiratory distress syndrome and organ failure, such as lung, liver, heart, and kidney [1]. The COVID-19 is rapidly spreading from person to person via respiratory droplets, coughing, or sneezing or contaminated hands of people with the illness. Many people get COVID-19 if they breathe in droplets from an infected individual with the virus. Based on the epidemiological reports, the incubation period range of SARS-CoV-2 is 2–14 days, and the virus may be infectious in the patients without symptoms and the infection is more severe in the elderly and people with a chronic health condition [3, 4]
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