Perception, attitude, and practice towards COVID-19 crisis: A web-based cross-sectional survey

The current situation of pandemic is unusual and rare. Understanding common public mindset towards the COVID-19 pandemic is essential. Hence, this study aimed to understand the people’s thinking, apprehension, and reaction towards the pandemic. Method: A Google survey form (26-item questionnaire) was created and shared through social media to include as many participants as possible. The questionnaire consists of questions regarding general identity (socio-demographic factors), emotional and physical health, empathy, economic impact, feelings towards measures taken by the Government, daily routine as well as their thoughts on this pandemic. Summary statistics (mean, median, mode) were used to represent the data based on their characteristics of data. Results: The response rate is 36 % (288) out of which majority were female (62.5%). 182 (62.8%) respondents followed the guidelines recommended by WHO. Around 73% of participants donated to either charity/trust or personally to known needy persons. Many people are using social media (n=170) more than ever before and the least number of people were praying (n=2). During lockdown most of the participants (n=156) were working/studying from home. Conclusion: The ordinary citizen has painted a rather grim picture of the current crisis and has become mentally depressed due to the global situation, extreme health concerns, and loss of job or income opportunities. This will lead to an increasing number of self-harm incidents and also suicides as the person might feel overwhelmed, hence to prevent and mitigate this the Psychiatry Health Services must be available, reach out to people and reassure them.