Community approach towards COVID-19 in Turkey: one month after the first confirmed case

INTRODUCTION: During this time when the COVID-19 is rising in Turkey, assessing the knowledge, attitude and practices of the public about the COVID-19 will be useful in finding out whether the interventions to control the outbreak are effective and viable Furthermore, such studies are needed to properly manage the outbreak process and cast light on future interventions This study aims to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of people in Turkey about the COVID-19 METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was implemented between 11 and 21 April 2020 using an online questionnaire The survey was applied online, and social media platforms were used to reach out to the highest number of people who met the inclusion criteria (i n , people aged 18 or older) The questionnaire consists of three parts (socio-demographic 40 questions, medical history, and knowledge, attitude, and practice section) Descriptive statistics and a comparison of participants' knowledge degrees about COVID-19 is tested using the Chi square test RESULTS: A total number of 8505 participant were accepted for the study 59 3% (5045) of respondents were women and 77 7% (6808) had a university degree or higher 85 6% (7277) of the participants had a good level of knowledge about COVID-19 Over 90% of participants have answered the questions about the mode of transmission of the COVID-19, symptoms, risk groups, isolation, and treatment correctly 55 2% (4696) of respondents thought that the disease would be successfully taken under control in Turkey and 38 6% (3282) in the world eventually 55 6% (4731) believed that the COVID-19 will not go away when the weather gets warmer 35 1% (2983) believed that getting the disease is preordained by fate The most frequently practiced protective behaviors included hand hygiene, staying at home and wearing mask outside 98 8% reported that they use their hands in order to protect theirselves from COVID-19 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Though, the knowledge attitude and practice of participants in our study was evaluated high, there were some knowledge and practice gaps in study population that should be considered in further community interventions The future interventions for the epidemic control need to consider social determinants such as the level of education, employment status and religious beliefs of people