Public awareness and preparedness towards Covid-19 pandemic in Pakistan

Objective: To examine the level of public awareness towards the coronavirus pandemic and knowledge about its preparedness. Methodology: In this cross-sectional study, a self-administrated online questionnaire was circulated through emails and social media. The questionnaire comprised of close ended questions regarding assessing awareness about the causes and symptoms of COVID-19 and knowledge about preventative measures required to be taken at individual and state level. A total of 350 participants responded to the survey in the given time period of six days from 13th to 19th March 2020. The participants belonged to all provinces of Pakistan including Azad Jammu Kashmir and Islamabad. Results: Public was aware of the COVID-19 epidemiological breakout, its causes, symptoms, modes of transmission and preparedness mechanism. The correlation matrix also depicted that public awareness about the danger of COVID-19 were significantly correlated with the preparedness at the individual and state levels. Conclusion: The general public was well aware of the COVID-19 epidemiological breakout, its causes, symptoms, modes of transmission and preparedness mechanism.