Knowledge, Attitude and Practices (KAP) About Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 among the General Public

Background: A Knowledge, Attitude and Practices (KAP) survey is a quantitative method (predefined questions formatted in standardized questionnaires) that provides qualitative and quantitative information. Measure the extent of a known situation; provides new tangents of a situations reality This has resulted in the public becoming more cautious, thereby minimizing the transmission of the disease to a certain level. Introduction: COVID-19 (COVID-19 is disease caused by a new strain of Coronavirus. ’CO’ stands for corona, ’VI’ for virus, and ‘D’ for disease. the most common symptoms which appear 2-14 days after exposure [1].Headache, abdominal pain, diarrhea, sore throat and muscle weakness are some of the less common symptoms experienced by some people, while some others may not develop any symptoms until later. This study is conducted to understand the extent of awareness among the general public and the importance of preventing the spread of Coronavirus infection in the community. An online questionnaire survey is conducted consisting the essential parameters about the important aspects of disease spread. Objective: To assess Coronavirus awareness among people. To understand the attitude of people towards Coronavirus Results: A total number of 564 participants took part In this study during the study period of 6months. Among which 325 were male and 239 were female. The male participants compromised Original Research Article Balaprabha et al.; JPRI, 34(4A): 35-44, 2022; Article no.JPRI.81887 36 the majority percentage (57%) of the total number of participants while the female participants comprised only (42.4%) of the participants. The result showed a significant correlation between female gender, higher age, and higher education, with knowledge, attitude, and practice. Conclusion: To adhere to the guidelines released by the Government and the guidelines provided by the WHO have played an extremely vital role in improving the knowledge and awareness among the general population which in turn brought positive effects in people’s attitude and practices towards Coronavirus since the WHO’s declaration of Coronavirus as a pandemic. This has resulted in the public becoming more cautious, thereby minimizing the transmission of the disease to a certain level. Several public health measures which are now being implemented around the world will hopefully diminish the spread of the virus while safe and effective treatments and vaccines are being developed to terminate it.


INTRODUCTION
(COVID-19 is disease caused by a new strain of coronavirus. 'CO' stands for corona, 'VI' for virus, and 'D' for disease. Formerly, this disease was referred to as '2019 novel coronavirus' or '2019-nCoV'. Corona virus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus.COVID-19 (also called SARS-CoV-2) is a novel respiratory virus which emerged from Wuhan City, Hubei, China [2]. It was reported to be transmitted by animal-to-human and human-to-human interaction. The viral outbreak eventually turned out to be a pandemic, resulting in an enormous number of human deaths. There is an exponential growth in the cases following the development of the epidemic. Coronavirus causes a variety of symptoms in people who are infected. Not all the people infected with Coronavirus will exhibit the same symptoms. Fever, dry cough, shortness of breath, fatigue or body aches are few of the most common symptoms which appear 2-14 days after exposure [1].Headache, abdominal pain, diarrhea, sore throat and muscle weakness are some of the less common symptoms experienced by some people, while some others may not develop any symptoms until later. Asymptomatic cases have also been observed to be a major issue of concern and have become one of the major contributors for viral transmission among the healthy population. This study is conducted to understand the extent of awareness among the general public and the importance of preventing the spread of coronavirus infection in the community. An online questionnaire survey is conducted consisting the essential parameters about the important aspects of disease spread, the causative agent, the importance of practicing personal hygiene and maintaining physical distance, etc., to prevent the spread of the disease. Physical, social distancing has been considered an important preventive measure to control the spread of the virus [3], causing the Government to enforce a nation-wide lockdown which resulted in the slowing down of the national as well as the global economy. India is a highly populated country where physical, social distancing is not a general practice but it has become vital in curbing the transmission of the deadly virus.

History of Coronavirus
On 31 December 2019, WHO was informed of cases of pneumonia of unknown cause in Wuhan city, China. A novel coronavirus was identified as the cause by Chinese Authorities on 7 January 2020 and was temporarily named "2019-Ncov".Coronaviruses (coV)are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the Common cold to more severe diseases. A novel coronavirus (ncoV) is a new strain that has not been previously identified in humans. The new virus was subsequently named the "Coronavirus". On 11 March 2020, the rapid increase in the number of cases outside China led the WHO Director-General to announce the outbreak could be characterized as a Pandemic. Since, the first cases were reported, WHO has worked to support countries to prepare and respond to the Coronavirus pandemic.

How It Spreads
The virus that causes Coronavirus is mainly transmitted through droplets generated when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or exhales. These droplets are too heavy to hang in the air, and quickly fall on floors or surfaces. A person can be infected by breathing in the virus if they are within close proximity of someone who has Coronavirus, or by touching a contaminated surface and then the nose, eyes, or mouth.

Etiology
The etiology of COVID-19 was attributed to a novel virus belonging to the Coronavirus (CoV) family [4]. On February 11 2020, the WHO director -general, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced that the disease caused by this new CoV was a "COVID19" which is the acronym of "Coronavirus disease 2019".

Epidemiology
Globally, over 150 million confirmed cases of Coronavirus have been reported. In the past week the number of new Coronavirus cases and deaths continues to decrease with over 3.5 million new cases and 78 thousand new deaths reported globally. Case and death incidences remain at high levels and significant increases have been reported in many countries in all regions.

Pathogenesis
When a healthy individual inhales the droplets containing the virus coughed up or sneezed by an infected person, the virus enters into the host body and binds to the host cell receptor ACE-2 via S1 sub-unit of viral spike protein which leads to conformational changes in the viral spike protein [5]. The virus then penetrates into the host cell by the fusion of viral and host cell membrane via S2 subunit of spike protein/ receptor mediated endocytosis. The viral nucleocapsid enters into the host cell and releases its viral contents.
The viral RNA undergoes replication, transcription and translation. After maturation, protein biosynthesis occurs in the cytoplasm which leads to the release of new viral particles. The newly formed viral particles get transported via Golgi vesicles to the cell membrane and moves into the extracellular space via exocytosis, thereby leading to the multiplication and spreading of the virus. This new infective material gets released from the infected individual through coughing or sneezing and leads to community transmission of the virus.

Diagnosis
At present, confirmation of cases of Coronavirus is based on the detection of viral RNA by nucleic acid amplification tests (NAAT) such as real-time Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) with confirmation by nucleic acid sequencing when necessary. The viral genes targeted so far include the N, E, S, ORF and RdRp genes.

Complications
Although most people with Coronavirus have mild to moderate symptoms, the disease can cause severe medical complications and lead to death in some people.
Older adults or people with existing medical conditions are at greater risk of becoming seriously ill with Coronavirus.
Complications can include: a) Pneumonia and trouble breathing. b) Organ failure in several organs. c) Heart problems. d) A severe lung condition that causes a low amount of oxygen to go through your blood stream to your organs (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome). e) Blood clots. f) Acute kidney injury. g) Additional Viral and bacterial infections.

Risk Factors
Adults of any age with the following conditions are at increased risk of severe illness from the virus that causes Coronavirus [6]. They are Cancer, Chronic kidney disease, COPD(Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease),Heart conditions like Heart Failure, Coronary artery disease or Cardiomyopathies, Immuno compromised state from solid organ transplant,Obesity,Pregnancy,Smoking,Type-2 Diabetes Mellitus, Sickle cell Anemia.

Treatment
Scientists around the world are working to find and develop treatments for Coronavirus. Optimal supportive care includes oxygen for severely ill patients and those who are at risk for severe disease and more advanced respiratory support such as ventilation for patients who are critically ill. Dexamethasone, is a corticosteroid that can help reduce the length of time on a ventilator and save lives of patients with severe and critical illness.
Remdesivir, Hydroxychloroquine, Lopinavir/Ritonavir and interferon regimens are some of the drugs approved by WHO for the treatment of Coronavirus [7]. Later on, the WHO issued a conditional recommendation on 20 November 2020 against the use of Remdesivir in hospitalized patients, regardless of the disease severity as they hadn't found any evidence that Remdesivir improved the survival and other outcomes in Coronavirus patients.

METHODOLOGY
This is a cross-sectional, observational, multi centric study that was conducted for 6 months. A structural data collection form in the form of a questionnaire was designed for data collection and sent online to several people. The responses of the participants were then collected, the data was interpreted and results were generated. The results were then analysed to find the final report. The participants belonging to the age group of 15 to 60 years, both male and female who can read and/or write English were included in this study.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
A total of 564 participants took part in this study during the study period of 6 months.
The present study was conducted to assess the awareness of Coronavirus among the people and their attitude towards the same. This study was a multi centric and the sample size was analyzed as per our inclusion and exclusion criteria.
A total of five hundred and sixty four people participated in this cross-sectional study and showed a good sense of knowledge, attitude and practices towards the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic as concluded in a previous study by Saadatjoo S. et al [8].
This survey was taken by both male and female participants (see Table 1) in which the percentage of male participants (57.6%) comprised the majority and we found no sex differences about Knowledge, Attitude and Practices towards Coronavirus as both males and females were found to be well-versed with Knowledge, Attitude and Practices towards Coronavirus as previously observed in a crosssectional survey conducted by Okello G. et al [9] on Knowledge, Attitude and Practices about Coronavirus in Uganda. Participants between the ages 15-60 years took part in the survey (see Table 2) and most of them fall under the age group of 15-25 years (59.4%). Among the different occupations and educational backgrounds taken into consideration (see Table  3) in this survey students belong to the majority percentage (44.4%) of the population to have participated in this survey and were observed to have a desired level of knowledge, attitude and preventive measures towards Coronavirus and similar results were obtained from a previous study conducted by Noreen K, Rubab Z et al. [10] among medical students in pakisthan [8]. this study shows that all the participants have very good knowledge, attitude and practices towards Coronavirus The occupation and educational background of the participants in this study did not have any significant correlation with their knowledge, attitude and practices towards Coronavirus. In this study, from the data shown in Table 4, we understand that the participants have good knowledge and awareness about Coronavirus, the cause of this infection, its transmission, the duration of the virus' survival outside the host body, its symptoms and whether or not they might have come in contact with an infected person, with an average of 66.37% of the participants answering yes and 33.63% of the participants answering no.
According to the current study and the data shown in Table 5, we understand that the majority of the participants (66.69%) were observed to have a healthy and positive attitude towards Coronavirus which included the use of face masks, washing of hands several times a day, practicing physical/social distancing and

CONCLUSION
To adhere to the guidelines released by the Government and the guidelines provided by the WHO have played an extremely vital role in improving the knowledge and awareness among the general population which in turn brought positive effects in people's attitude and practices towards COVID-19 since the WHO's declaration of COVID-19 as a pandemic. This has resulted in the public becoming more cautious, thereby minimizing the transmission of the disease to a certain level. Several public health measures which are now being implemented around the world will hopefully diminish the spread of the virus while safe and effective treatments and vaccines are being developed to terminate it.

CONSENT
As per international standard or university standard, respondents' written consent has been collected and preserved by the author(s).

ETHICAL APPROVAL
Ethical approval was obtained and preserved by all the authors.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We are sincerely thankful to the people for helping us and cooperation throughout the study.