A study on knowledge, attitude and practices towards the COVID-19 pandemic among the non-COVID-19 patients at Outpatient Department in a Teaching Hospital, Northern Sri Lanka.

Background: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus -2 (SARS-CoV-2) has infected millions of people all over the world and Sri Lanka is not an exception for the impact of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19). As there are no effective therapeutic agents at present and newly developed vaccines are not freely available for many countries, preventive measures such as handwashing, social distancing, and respiratory etiquette are key to control of spread. The effective implementation of these measures depends on public knowledge and attitude towards COVID-19 and adherence to key practices.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted among 500 non-COVID-19 patients who attended the Outpatient Department (OPD) of the Teaching Hospital Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) was assessed through a self-administered questionnaire and analysis was performed by using SPSS 26.

Results: The majority were females (67.8%) and the mean age of the participants was 36.9 (range: 15-85). Most of the participants were homemakers. Two hundred and twenty-two patients (44.4%: 40.1-48.8) showed a suboptimal knowledge score regarding COVID-19. The males, age above 65, were significantly associated with low knowledge score ( < 0.05). Similarly, a significant proportion (36.4%: 32.3-40.7) showed a suboptimal attitude score but the majority of the participants have adopted positive behaviours such as frequently washing hands (88.4%) and wearing masks in appropriate places (91.6%). The major sources for information regarding COVID-19 among the participants were the news media (54.0%) followed by social media (23.2%).

Conclusion: As a significant proportion of the participants showed a poor knowledge score and gaps in specific aspects related to COVID-19, the primary care physicians have a significant role to play to improve community knowledge by educating specific groups such as the males and elderly by using appropriate news media and social media platforms.