Abstract

Background: In the current era of the COVID-19 pandemic, where the world is still waiting for the availability of effective vaccine, where various measures have been taken nationally and locally to combat the virus, one of the essential measures that can help in preventing the spread of COVID-19 is to follow the health authority’s recommendations, whose primary focus is to spread awareness among the public about the disease, how it is spread, and its related complications. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess/evaluate the public knowledge, attitude, and perception about the COVID-19 pandemic in Sudayr Region, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).
Methods: An online survey was conducted from August to September 2020 among the residents of Sudayr region, KSA. A total of 403 participants responded to the online survey that was designed to assess/evaluate the knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes of the residents toward the COVID-19 pandemic.
Results: Most of the participants had an excellent knowledge regarding COVID-19. Participants with chronic diseases had significantly higher knowledge regarding COVID-19 (p < 0.001). Majority of the participants (57.1%, 230) perceived that they might get infected or can acquire the infection by a family member, whereas more than 50% were of the view that the COVID-19 infection was overly treated. Almost two-thirds of the participants had a high positive attitude toward COVID-19 and those living in the urban area had a significantly high positive attitude than residents in the rural area (p = 0.018).
Conclusion: Residents of Sudayr region had a significantly high knowledge, better perception, and high positive attitude toward the COVID-19 pandemic. The credit can be attributed to the efforts made by the Ministry of Health, KSA, to combat the disease by spreading awareness and information about COVID-19 to every nook and corner of the country. Social media platforms and electronic and print media served as the best forums to spread the awareness about COVID-19 in KSA.

Key words: COVID-19, knowledge, perceptions, attitudes, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia