422927

Compliance of the General Population to Precautionary Measures During the Early Waves of COVID-19 in Alexandria, Egypt

Article

Last updated: 27 Apr 2025

Subjects

-

Tags

Academic medicine

Abstract

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, countries that imposed regulations on activities related to gatherings, transportation and personal precautionary measures have reported reduced surging of COVID-19 cases. The degree of people's adherence to these precautionary measures was variable between countries. Aim: To assess the compliance of a sample of Alexandrian residents with the precautionary measures against COVID-19 during the first and second waves of the pandemic. Methods: This cross-sectional study comprised 715 participants of the general population from Alexandria who were invited to fill out a pre-designed self-reported questionnaire entailing compliance to precautionary measures. Data on SARS-CoV2 spike antibodies were obtained.Results: Hand hygiene was the most practiced preventive measure (91.3%), followed by wearing masks (59.2% self-reported to “always" wear a facemask outdoors). Regarding the frequency of practicing physical distancing, only 37.6% reported to “always" abide to it. More individuals used public transportation as opposed to taxis (34.9% compared to 9.8% respectively, p <0.01). There were differences among participants from different districts regarding most of the studied preventive measures as well as vaccine acceptance and COVID-19 diagnosis rates. Multivariate regression analysis showed that among all the investigated social practices, the use of public transport was the only significant predictor for SARS-CoV-2 antibody seropositivity [OR(95% CI; LL-UL)=2.763(1.745-4.373, p <0.001). Conclusions: The studied sample displayed better compliance to hand washing than to wearing face masks, while fewer participants practiced physical distancing. Using public transportation was the only predictor of seropositivity among all the studied risk factors. Alexandrian districts showed differences between their residents in the studied parameters.  

DOI

10.21608/ejmr.2024.191582.1335

Keywords

seroprevalence, SARS-CoV-2, Behavior, Alexandria districts, Egypt

Authors

First Name

Engy

Last Name

El-Ghitany

MiddleName

M.

Affiliation

Department of Tropical Health, High Institute of Public Health, Alexandria University Alexandria, Egypt

Email

ingy.elghitany@alexu.edu.eg

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Eman

Last Name

Omran

MiddleName

A.

Affiliation

Department of Microbiology, High Institute of Public Health, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt

Email

ingy.elghitany@gmail.com

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Azza

Last Name

Farghaly

MiddleName

Galal

Affiliation

Department of Tropical Health, High Institute of Public Health, Alexandria University Alexandria, Egypt

Email

farghaly20@gmail.com

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Mona

Last Name

Hashish

MiddleName

H.

Affiliation

Department of Microbiology, High Institute of Public Health, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt

Email

monash64@yahoo.com

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Mahmoud

Last Name

Hassaan

MiddleName

A

Affiliation

Institute of Graduate Studies and Research, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt

Email

hassannm@hotmail.com

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Ehab

Last Name

Elrewany

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Department of Tropical Health, High Institute of Public Health, Alexandria University Alexandria, Egypt

Email

ehabelrewany@gmail.com

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Nada

Last Name

Ibrahim

MiddleName

M.

Affiliation

Department of Nutrition, High Institute of Public Health, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt

Email

nadaibrahim@hotmail.com

City

-

Orcid

-

Volume

6

Article Issue

2

Related Issue

55168

Issue Date

2025-04-01

Receive Date

2023-02-03

Publish Date

2025-04-01

Page Start

7

Page End

30

Print ISSN

2682-4396

Online ISSN

2682-440X

Link

https://ejmr.journals.ekb.eg/article_422927.html

Detail API

http://journals.ekb.eg?_action=service&article_code=422927

Order

422,927

Type

Original Article

Type Code

1,224

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Egyptian Journal of Medical Research

Publication Link

https://ejmr.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Compliance of the General Population to Precautionary Measures During the Early Waves of COVID-19 in Alexandria, Egypt

Details

Type

Article

Created At

27 Apr 2025