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Coronavirus-19 in the Democratic Republic of Congo: Public Views, Attitudes, and Beliefs in an Unaffected Area: The Case of the City of Mbujimayi

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Submitted:

25 June 2020

Posted:

26 June 2020

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Abstract
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is rapidly spreading across the world. In Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), 11 out of 26 provinces have been affected on 19 June 2020. The purpose of this study was to assess the public views, attitudes and beliefs related to the COVID-19 pandemic among the population of an unaffected city.Methods: This is a descriptive observational study conducted in an unaffected city using a questionnaire. Findings: A total of 769 people participated. The average age was 36 ±14 years. The sex ratio (male: female) was 1.6. The majority of respondents (97%) is aware of the existence of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is well informed about the signs of the disease, its severity and barrier measures, however few of them have adopted the change in habit and behavior in respect of the barrier measures. Lack of water for handwashing is the most common difficulty in complying with barrier measures (71%). The COVID-19 is considered as an artificial virus designed to reduce the world population by 26%, God’s punishment (22%). Only 36% of the participants are in favor of vaccination against COVID-19. Vaccine is, a western conspiracy to spread COVID-19 in Africa (38%), testing it on Africans (35%), sterilize Africans’ people (12%).Conclusions: Cities not yet affected by COVID-19 in DRC are aware of the existence of the disease, but insufficiently prepared to deal with it. It is important to increase awareness on barrier measures, combating false information, and improving regular water supply for regular handwashing.
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Subject: Public Health and Healthcare  -   Health Policy and Services
Copyright: This open access article is published under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license, which permit the free download, distribution, and reuse, provided that the author and preprint are cited in any reuse.
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