Awareness and preventive practices related to COVID-19 pandemic among the Indian public

Abstract

This paper assesses the level of awareness the general public of India maintains about the COVID-19 pandemic which is likely to vary on the basis of their heterogeneous demographic characteristics and examines the efficacy of the preventive practices being followed by them. In this surveybased cross-sectional study, with the help of a self-administered questionnaire circulated through various social media platforms for almost two weeks, data were collected online from 2168 literate adult citizens of India. The participants were selected through a convenience sampling technique, and the results indicate a significant difference between the demographic profile of a respondent and his/her knowledge about various aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was found that nearly 90% of the respondents were aware of the evolution, the symptoms, and the transmission of the COVID-19 pandemic and almost all of them were following the state-recommended preventive practices. Thus, the overall result of the study reveals that the majority of the Indian population is aware of the pandemic and is being followed.