Abstract
BackgroundCOVID-19 (Corona Virus Disease 2019) is showing a wide global spread, and urgent joint international efforts is required to the control of this pandemic, the awareness of people towards infectious viruses still the main factor to limit the widespread of disease. The aim of this study is to assess the level of awareness and attitude towards COVID-19 among a sample of Egyptian school children, using a web-based questionnaire.ResultsA total of 708 participants were involved in this online survey study, representing different areas in Egypt, 378 males (53.4%), 330 females (46.5%); their age range between 6 and 18 years. Regarding the residence, 576 (81.4%) were from urban areas, the remaining 132 (18.6%) were from non-urban areas. Internet and media were more frequent used as a source of information in urban students. The knowledge level score of risk and prevention of the disease were significantly higher in urban students than in non-urban students. Healthy practice score ≥ 50 were significantly more frequent in urban students. Healthy practice score was non-significantly higher in urban students.ConclusionsMost of the study participants of school students are knowledgeable about basic information, and have cautious preventive practices towards COVID-19, denoting the efficacy of the public health efforts. However, the lower level of awareness in non-urbans, indicating a need to address alternative channels to communicate with these populations
Highlights
COVID-19 (Corona Virus Disease 2019) is showing a wide global spread, and urgent joint international efforts is required to the control of this pandemic, the awareness of people towards infectious viruses still the main factor to limit the widespread of disease
The new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has evolved into a pandemic, requiring persons around the world to attend to rapidly changing messages about public health and take urgent measures to control the spread of the virus (Wolf et al 2020)
We investigated the awareness and precautions practices of school students from Egypt, towards the COVID-19 pandemic
Summary
COVID-19 (Corona Virus Disease 2019) is showing a wide global spread, and urgent joint international efforts is required to the control of this pandemic, the awareness of people towards infectious viruses still the main factor to limit the widespread of disease. The new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has evolved into a pandemic, requiring persons around the world to attend to rapidly changing messages about public health and take urgent measures to control the spread of the virus (Wolf et al 2020). COVID-19 is highly contagious, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared it as a global health emergency on 30 January 2020 (Zhu et al.2020), and as a pandemic in 11th of March 2020 (WHO 2020; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2019). Some reports suggest initially that SARS-CoV-2 infection in children appears to be uncommon, but pediatric cases started to be reported
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have