Abstract
Purpose: The WHO has labelled the Coronavirus (COVID-19) as a global pandemic. There is collective effort to stem out the spread of the virus through conscious efforts of governments and other stakeholders in public health. It also takes deliberate personal behavioural changes and adaptations which are all dependent on the awareness and knowledge of the nature, symptoms, and prevention of the coronavirus by the public health workers. The objective of this study was to assess the sources of information, knowledge, and perceptions of the health workers towards the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods: The study adopted a cross-sectional survey approach that distributed questionnaires among health workers. In all, three hundred and eight-four (384) participants took part in the study.
Findings: With regards to the sources of information on COVID-19, 76.8% of the respondents reported accessing their information from the internet, 74.4% indicated that they received this information on social media such as Facebook and Twitter, 73.3% accessed their information from the Television while 70.1% of the respondents received their information from Government guidelines. Additionally, in terms of knowledge on the pandemic, higher scores were observed in the area of mode of transmission of the infection.
Conclusion: Health workers who participated in this study can be said to have good knowledge of the nature, symptoms, and a somewhat right perception about the COVID-19 virus. This is the right attitude needed to help restrict the diffusion of the virus as the world waits for an approved vaccine and solution to this global pandemic.