Knowledge, attitudes and practices amongst university students in Lebanon

Abstract

At the beginning of the year 2020, a novel coronavirus was identified in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. The virus was named SARS-CoV-2 and its disease was subsequently called COVID-19 by the WHO, who declared the outbreak to be a pandemic on the 11th of March 2020. As of 20 May 2020, approximately 4.8 million cases have been confirmed, with approximately 317 000 deaths. The first case of COVID-19 was diagnosed on the 21st of February 2020. The government has since implemented measures to control the spread of the virus, including lockdowns, curfews, mandatory wear of masks in public, and recommends personal preventive practices such as hand washing, social distancing, etc. As of the 27th of May 2020, there are 1161 COVID-19 cases in Lebanon. It is thus crucial that the response to COVID-19 be effective and trustworthy. The engagement of the general population is an essential factor to the success of the response. Therefore, evaluating and assessing the current knowledge, attitude and practices is extremely important for efficient response to the public health crisis, whether it is for communication between institutions and the general public, to understand what to focus on, and prepare well for the future action plans such as the deconfinement, opening of universities and businesses, etc. The project aims to assess the level of knowledge, attitudes, and practices of university students in Lebanon towards COVID-19 via an online questionnaire (KAP survey) distributed to university students in Lebanon.…