COVID-19 In India - Awareness, Perception And Psychological Changes In Public: A Virtual Survey

Abstract

Background: The world today is facing a major health crisis with serious social and economic concerns due to
COVID-19 pandemic. The disease is extremely contagious and no effective clinically approved drugs are
reported. Confronted with this, severe measures like lockdowns, physical distancing, etc., have been imposed to
adapt and to break the chain of commuting the deadly infections. This ambiguity threatens public physical and
mental health as well. To facilitate the elimination of COVID-19 from India, public adherence and compliance to the
Government’s control measures is essential. In this context, the present study was aimed to educate public and to
investigate public awareness, population perception and psychological consequences of lockdowns through online
survey in India.
Methods: This online survey was a cross-sectional study conducted for about 2 weeks in India using Google forms
after taking consent from general public. The survey contained a questionnaire regarding demographics, knowledge,
practices and socio-psychological consequences of COVID lockdown which was posted as a link on various social
networking applications.
Results: Based on the 612 responses, it was evident that about 60% of the participants were aware about the mode of
transmission of the virus, symptoms of COVID-19 and about 75% had positive perception towards COVID-19. The
present study shows that psychological behavior of a minor fraction of population was affected during the COVID
lockdown period.
Conclusion: The results from the study indicate that there is a need to implement more efficient awareness programs
to raise the awareness of public with an emphasis on illiterates so as to effectively eliminate COVID-19 from India.