Abstract :
Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), caused by SARS-CoV-2, is a novel virus which was detected for the first time in Wuhan city of China in December 2019 than rapidly spread to over 198 countries across the world, causing huge morbidity, mortality, grief and economic loss.
Aim: To assess knowledge, attitude and practices regarding COVID-19 among school students.
Materials and Methods: Cross sectional Study was conducted for a period of 1 Month. Two Hundred Eighty Three (283) school students of middle, high & senior secondary classes (8th-12thclass) were enrolled in the study after obtaining their informed consent. Pretested semi structured online questionnaire using google forms was used for study. Data was entered and analyzed using MS excel.
Results: Out of 283 students enrolled, 60% were of age group 12-15 years and rest 16-19 years. Majority (89%) of students were from private school and rest from government. Maximum (98%) students were well versed with the disease and their main source of information were internet (42%) and television (37%). Student’s knowledge about COVID-19 in context with, its causative agent (92%), mode of spread (80%), symptoms (79%) incubation period (74%) was found to be good. Also, knowledge about adoption
of preventive measure like importance of hand washing (99%), benefit of using mask (79%) was found to be good. Student had good attitude and were using hand sanitizer (97%), practicing cough etiquettes (92%), hand washing (92%), wearing face mask (95%), avoiding crowded places (85%) etc.
Conclusion: Students were having good knowledge, positive attitude and practices for prevention against COVID-19 infection.
Keyword :
COVID- 19, SARS -CoV- 2, Knowledge, Attitude, Practice, Students.