Abstract
The first cases of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) were reported in
late December 2019 in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China. It has spread
rapidly around the world. Taking preventive measures by the public plays
the most important role in infection prevention and control of the
COVID-19. One of the major challenges in preventing and controlling
COVID-19 has been the proliferation of misinformation on social media.
In such a special epidemic, assessment of knowledge and attitude of the
public will help to reduce the uncoordinated social behavior arising
from misinformation. The purpose of this cross-sectional online survey
was to determine the level of knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of
Iranian population toward outbreak of COVID-19. Data were collected by
self-administrated questionnaire. Analytical statistics were performed
on the results. The mean scores of respondents’ KAP were 87.7, 59.3, and
89.6, respectively. Married and females participants, who work in
healthcare systems, participants in the age group of 36 to 45 years with
a higher level of education, and those who studied in the fields related
to health gained significantly higher knowledge scores. Most respondents
(63.7%) had a negative attitude towards the observance of appointed
prevention principles by others. Also, the results showed a
statistically significant positive correlation between all sections of
KAP. Our findings suggest that despite the rapid dissemination of
reliable and unreliable information about COVID-19 through cyberspace,
the Iranian people have sufficient knowledge to deal with COVID-19
outbreak.