Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices (KAP) about COVID-19 among Indian Population: A Cross-sectional Study

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global health emergency. Beliefs and behaviors of a target population about COVID-19 pose unique challenges to effective implementation of healthcare policies in densely populated and socio-geographically diverse nations like India. An online descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among Indian population during the early phase of the COVID19 outbreak in the country to assess their knowledge, attitude and practices about the pandemic. A multinomial logistic regression (Z-test statistics with p<=0.05) was used to analyze the impact of demographic variables on knowledge and to test whether knowledge positively impacts the attitude and practices of an individual. It was found that a higher knowledge score influenced compliance with precautionary behaviors among the participants who were females, educated, and senior citizens. The findings suggest that health education intervention programs targeting males, the working age population and those belonging to lower income groups will be effective.