Role of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in the upgrading of personal hygiene. A cross-sectional study in Saudi Arabia

OBJECTIVES: To assess the role of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in improving personal hygiene in Saudi Arabia. METHODS: We administered a questionnaire distributed online between 19 and 28 May 2020 to determine alterations in personal hygiene practices during this pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic phase. RESULTS: We included 211 respondents from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) in this study. Improvement at different levels was detected in all examined personal hygiene items compared to the pre-pandemic stage. The percentages of respondents who always washed their hands after coming back home (34.1%), used soap to wash their hands (58.8%), used a hand sanitizer outside (5.2%), wore a face masks while outside (1.4%) and washed their hands before preparing and/or eating food (74.9%) was increased before the pandemic to 89.6%, 90%, 63.5%, 59.2% and 89.1% during the pandemic, respectively. The percentage of respondents who never shake hands with people they know increased from 0% before the pandemic to 62.6% during the pandemic. The mean duration of washing hands with soap significantly increased from 13.31 seconds before the pandemic to 28.01 seconds during the pandemic (p<0.0001). CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a noticeable improvement in the personal hygiene habits in Saudi Arabia mainly those related to COVID-19 prevention.