Public Knowledge and Adherence to Hand Hygienic Guidelines for the Prevention of SARS-CoV-2 Transmission: A Cross-sectional Survey from Pakistan

OBJECTIVE: Good hand hygienic practices are considered an important factor to curb the transmission and emergence of SARS-CoV -2. Various studies, conducted previously during the outbreaks of SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, have ascertained the effectiveness of adopting good hand hygienic practices to curb the emergence of these viruses. This study aims to explore public hand hygienic practices during the peak pandemic period. METHOD: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among the general population of Pakistan to investigate the knowledge and perception about hand hygiene, self-reported hand hygiene practices, adherence to hand hygienic guidelines, and barriers to optimal hand hygiene. Kruskal-Wallis test, Mann-Whitney U test, and Regression model were used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: There was a significant difference in area-based knowledge (P = 0.026), beliefs (P = 0.027), and practices (P = 0.002) regarding hand hygiene. The results of regression analysis revealed that people in urban areas were more likely to have better knowledge (β = 0.108, CI = 0.076 − 0.05, P = 0.008) and better adherence (β = 0.115, CI = 0.514 − 2.68, P = 0.004) to hand hygienic practices. CONCLUSION: Advertisements on television and other electronic media with appealing slogans could be effective in making people more compliant to optimal hand hygienic practices.