Knowledge, attitude and practice towards COVID 19 among the rural community: a cross sectional study during outbreak

Background: Corona virus disease 19 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by newly discovered corona virus. In order to reduce the cases of COVID-19, it is important to practice strict control measures. People adherence to control measures is affected by their knowledge, attitude and practices towards COVID-19. Hence, this study was conducted with an objective to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice towards COVID-19 in the rural community in the vicinity of Adichunchanagiri Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS), B.G. Nagar. Methods: This cross sectional study was carried out among 572 households in the rural field practice area of AIMS, B. G. Nagar for a period of 3 months. Personal interview of the households was done using pretested semi structured questionnaire after obtaining the consent. Data was entered in MS Excel and descriptive statistical measures like percentage, mean, and standard deviations were calculated. Results: Among 572 households, more than half (53.9%) of the interviewed subjects were less than 40 years old. Majority, 94.6% of the respondents responded correctly that the spread of the disease is by close contact with an infected person and respiratory droplets, 96.2% knew correctly the early sign/s of COVID-19. 94.2% of them had the confidence that the world will win the battle against COVID-19. Most (98%) of the study subjects were taking proper preventive measures while leaving home. Conclusions: Majority of the study participants exhibited good knowledge, favorable attitude, and sensible practices regarding COVID-19. This good knowledge of the study population towards COVID-19 was mainly due to wide awareness created by the Government through various social media.