Towards the Easing of Restrictions During an Infectious Outbreak: A Cross-Sectional Online Survey to Assess the Knowledge, Misperceptions, Attitudes and Behaviour of Ghanaians on the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract Background: Ghana’s COVID-19 caseloads stretched to 32,437 with 161 deaths. After the first COVID-19 case recorded in March, the Government of Ghana imposed several restrictions on the life of citizenry to prevent the spread of the infection. However, it is imperative to assess and track the knowledge, misperceptions, attitudes and behaviour of Ghanaian on this public health emergency that is moving fast and not well understood before lives are restored to normalcy. This study investigated the knowledge, misperceptions, attitudes and behaviour of Ghanaians on the COVID-19 pandemic through a rapid online survey system.Methods: The Cochran sample size determination formula was used to estimate a representative sample of adult Ghanaian residents (n = 420) for the cross-sectional survey. An online questionnaire (eQuestionnaire) designed with Google Form was administered to the participants who consented to be part of this study. SMS and popular social media handles were used for the distribution of the eQuestionnaire URL to the participants. The survey commenced on July 5th 2020 through to July 15th,2020. Socio-demographic data of participants were gathered on age, gender, religion and level of education. Data collected were analysed using summary and inferential statistics. Results: A total of 475 adult Ghanaian participants completed the eQuestionnaire. Some Ghanaians believed that the COVID-19 pandemic is a myth (95% CI 25.6%-48.1%) and it does not have any effect on a Ghanaian (African) because of the hot temperate we experience. Majority of the participants (78.2%) thought that older adults were at high risk of death when disease-ridden with COVID-19 pandemic. The majority of the participants (81.5%) were poise that Ghana can successfully manage the COVID-19 pandemic. About 31.5% of the participants indicated they did not wear facial or nose masks when going out of their homes. The participants (81.9%, 389/475) approved that the government should ease the COVID-19 restrictions for life to return normalcy.Conclusion: Although Ghanaians have appreciable knowledge, positive attitude and appropriate behaviour in response to COVID-19 pandemic, a well-coordinated effort is needed to ensure stringent compliance with healthcare protocols toward the easing of COVID-19 restrictions in Ghana.