Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access
Open Access Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Restricted Access Subscription Access

Knowledge and Perception Related to the New SARS-CoV-2 Variants amongst the General Population and the Healthcare Workers in Delhi NCR: A Survey-based Study


Affiliations
1 Department of Microbiology, Manav Rachna Dental College, FDS, MRIIRS, Faridabad, Haryana, India
2 BDS, Manav Rachna Dental College, FDS MRIIRS, Faridabad, Haryana, India
3 BDS, Manav Rachna Dental College, FDS, MRIIRS Faridabad, Haryana, India
4 BDS, Manav Rachna Dental College, FDS, MRIIRS Faridabad, Haryana, India
     

   Subscribe/Renew Journal


The emergence of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused a pandemic in the modern world. SARS-CoV-2 is a highly mutating virus and thus numerous variants can be seen globally. A crosssectional survey was conducted to assess the knowledge of not only healthcare professionals and students but also of the general population about the different variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The total number of participants that took part in the study was 192. 192 participants took part in the study. Most of the participants were female (63%) between the age group of 19-22 years. The majority of the respondents were Undergraduate medical or dental students (64.06%) followed by the general population (17.7%). During this knowledge assessment, it was seen that the average marks scored were only 5.42 out of 14. Genetic lineage of SARS-CoV-2 have been arising and circulating all over the world since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of the study was to assess the knowledge and perception of healthcare workers and the general population. It was found that the healthcare workers were more knowledgeable and aware about the variant when compared with general population. This is due to the fact that they play a crucial role in diagnosis, containment, and treatment.

Keywords

variants, SARS-CoV-2, knowledge, perception
Subscription Login to verify subscription
User
Notifications
Font Size


  • Abolfotouh, M.A., Almutairi, A.F., BaniMustafa, A.A.A., & Hussein, M.A. (2020). Perception and attitude of healthcare workers in Saudi Arabia with regard to Covid- 19 pandemic and potential associated predictors. BMC Infectious Diseases, 20(1), 1- 10.
  • Al-Hanawi, M.K., Angawi, K., Alshareef, N., Qattan, A., Helmy, H.Z., Abudawood, Y., Alqurashi, M., Kattan, W.M., Kadasah, N.A., Chirwa, G.C., & Alsharqi, O. (2020). Knowledge, attitude and practice toward COVID-19 among the public in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: A cross-sectional study. Frontiers in Public Health, 8, 217.
  • Alnasser, A.H.A., Al-Tawfiq, J.A., Al Kalif, M.S.H., Alobaysi, A.M.A., Al Mubarak, M.H.M., Alturki, H.N.H., Alharbi, A.A.A., Albahrani, R.S.S., Sultan, S.A., & AlHamad, A.R.N. (2020). The positive impact of social media on the level of COVID-19 awareness in Saudi Arabia: A web-based cross-sectional survey. Infezioni in Medicina, 28(4), 545-550.
  • Barry, M., Temsah, M.H., Alhuzaimi, A., Alamro, N., Al-Eyadhy, A., Aljamaan, F., Saddik, B., Alhaboob, A., Alsohime, F., Alhasan, K., & Alrabiaah, A. (2021). COVID-19 vaccine confidence and hesitancy among health care workers: A crosssectional survey from a MERS-CoV experienced nation. PloS One, 16(11), e0244415.
  • Carriedo, A., Cecchini, J.A., Fernández-Río, J., & Méndez-Giménez, A. (2020). Resilience and physical activity in people under home isolation due to COVID-19: A preliminary evaluation. Mental Health and Physical Activity, 19, 100361.
  • CDC (2021). Emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019 ncov/more/science-and-research/scientific-brief-emer ging-variants.html.accessed Jan 14, 2021.
  • Davies, N.G., Barnard, R.C., Jarvis, C.I., Kucharski, A.J., Munday, J., Pearson, C.A., Russell, T.W., Tully, D.C., Abbott, S., Gimma, A., & Waites, W. (2020). Estimated transmissibility and severity of novel SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern 202012/01 in England. MedRxiv.
  • Del Rio, C., Malani, P.N., & Omer, S.B. (2021). Confronting the delta variant of SARSCoV- 2, summer 2021. Jama, 326(11), 1001-1002.
  • Gilan, D., Röthke, N., Blessin, M., Kunzler, A., Stoffers-Winterling, J., Müssig, M., Yuen, K.S., Tüscher, O., Thrul, J., Kreuter, F., & Sprengholz, P. (2020). Psychomorbidity, resilience, and exacerbating and protective factors during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: A systematic literature review and results from the German COSMO-PANEL. Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, 117(38), 625.
  • Gupta, A.K., Mehra, A., Niraula, A., Kafle, K., Deo, S.P., Singh, B., Sahoo, S., & Grover, S. (2020). Prevalence of anxiety and depression among the healthcare workers in Nepal during the COVID-19 pandemic. Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 54, 102260.
  • Lai, J., Ma, S., Wang, Y., Cai, Z., Hu, J., Wei, N., Wu, J., Du, H., Chen, T., Li, R., & Tan, H. (2020). Factors associated with mental health outcomes among health care workers exposed to coronavirus disease 2019. JAMA Network Open, 3(3), e203976- e203976.
  • Mendes, A., Serratrice, C., Herrmann, F.R., Genton, L., Périvier, S., Scheffler, M., Fassier, T., Huber, P., Jacques, M.C., Prendki, V., & Roux, X. (2020). Predictors of in-hospital mortality in older patients with COVID-19: The COVID age study. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 21(11), 1546- 1554.
  • Nguyen, L.H., Drew, D.A., Graham, M.S., Joshi, A.D., Guo, C.G., Ma, W., Mehta, R.S., Warner, E.T., Sikavi, D.R., Lo, C.H., & Kwon, S. (2020). Risk of COVID-19 among front-line health-care workers and the general community: A prospective cohort study. The Lancet Public Health, 5(9), e475-e483.
  • Pappa, S., Ntella, V., Giannakas, T., Giannakoulis, V.G., Papoutsi, E., & Katsaounou, P. (2020). Prevalence of depression, anxiety, and insomnia among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 88, 901-907.
  • Public Health England (2021). Variants: Distribution of case data. https://assets. publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/fi le/997418/Variants_of_Concern_VOC_Technical_Briefing_17.pdf Health England.SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern and variants under investigation in Englandtechnical briefing London, United Kingdom: Public Health England.
  • Rambaut, A., Holmes, E.C., O'Toole, Á., Hill, V., McCrone, J.T., Ruis, C., du Plessis, L., & Pybus, O.G. (2020). A dynamic nomenclature proposal for SARS-CoV-2 lineages to assist genomic epidemiology. Nature Microbiology, 5(11), 1403- 1407.
  • Barry, M., Temsah, M.H., Alhuzaimi, A., Alamro, N., Al-Eyadhy, A., Aljamaan, F., Saddik, B., Alhaboob, A., Alsohime, F., Alhasan, K., & Alrabiaah, A. (2021). COVID-19 vaccine confidence and hesitancy among health care workers: A crosssectional survey from a MERS-CoV experienced nation. PloS One, 16(11), e0244415.
  • Shahhosseini, N., Babuadze, G.G., Wong, G., & Kobinger, G.P. (2021). Mutation signatures and in silico docking of novel SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern. Microorganisms, 9(5), 926.
  • Temsah, M.H., & Alenezi, S. (2020). Understanding the psychological stress and optimizing the psychological support for the acute-care health-care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Saudi Critical Care Journal, 4(5), 25.
  • Temsah, M.H., Al-Sohime, F., Alamro, N., Al-Eyadhy, A., Al-Hasan, K., Jamal, A., Al- Maglouth, I., Aljamaan, F., Al Amri, M., Barry, M., & Al-Subaie, S. (2020). The psychological impact of COVID-19 pandemic on health care workers in a MERSCoV endemic country. Journal of Infection and Public Health, 13(6), 877-882.
  • Temsah, M.H., Alhuzaimi, A.N., Alamro, N., Alrabiaah, A., Al-Sohime, F., Alhasan, K., Kari, J.A., Almaghlouth, I., Aljamaan, F., Al-Eyadhy, A., & Jamal, A. (2020). Knowledge, attitudes and practices of healthcare workers during the early COVID- 19 pandemic in a main, academic tertiary care centre in Saudi Arabia. Epidemiology and Infection, 148, e203.
  • Temsah, M.H., Barry, M., Aljamaan, F., Alhuzaimi, A.N., Al-Eyadhy, A., Saddik, B., Alsohime, F., Alhaboob, A., Alhasan, K., Alaraj, A., & Halwani, R. (2021). SARSCoV- 2 B. 1.1. 7 UK variant of concern lineage-related perceptions, COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and travel worry among healthcare workers. Frontiers in Public Health, 9, 617.
  • Van Stekelenburg, A., Schaap, G., Veling, H., & Buijzen, M. (2021). Investigating and improving the accuracy of US citizens' beliefs about the COVID-19 pandemic: Longitudinal survey study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 23(1), e24069.
  • Variants: distribution of cases data (2021). GOV.UK. 28 January 2021. At "Differences between a Variant of Concern and Variant Under Investigation". Retrieved 19 February 2021. SARS-CoV-2 variants, if considered to have concerning epidemiological, immunological.
  • Wilson, W., Raj, J.P., Rao, S., Ghiya, M., Nedungalaparambil, N.M., Mundra, H., & Mathew, R. (2020). Prevalence and predictors of stress, anxiety, and depression among healthcare workers managing COVID-19 pandemic in India: A nationwide observational study. Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine, 42(4), 353-358.
  • Xie, X., Zou, J., Fontes-Garfias, C.R., Xia, H., Swanson, K.A., Cutler, M., Cooper, D., Menachery, V.D., Weaver, S., Dormitzer, P.R., & Shi, P.Y. (2021). Neutralization of N501Y mutant SARS-CoV-2 by BNT162b2 vaccine-elicited sera. BioRxiv.
  • Young, K. (2021). FDA warns of false negative COVID tests from virus mutations. https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/943845#:~:text=The%20US%20Food%2 0and%20Drug, genome%20assessed%20by%20that%20test. Accessed 16 Jan 2021.
  • Zhan, M., Qin, Y., Xue, X., & Zhu, S. (2020). Death from Covid-19 of 23 health care workers in China. New England Journal of Medicine, 382(23), 2267-2268.http://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/variants/variant -info.html https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh. 2020.00217/full https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-variants-genomicallyconfirmed- case-numbers/variants-distribution-of-case-data-11-june-2021

Abstract Views: 179

PDF Views: 0




  • Knowledge and Perception Related to the New SARS-CoV-2 Variants amongst the General Population and the Healthcare Workers in Delhi NCR: A Survey-based Study

Abstract Views: 179  |  PDF Views: 0

Authors

Shakila Mahesh
Department of Microbiology, Manav Rachna Dental College, FDS, MRIIRS, Faridabad, Haryana, India
Kadambari Harit
BDS, Manav Rachna Dental College, FDS MRIIRS, Faridabad, Haryana, India
Kaja Sai Ragesvari
BDS, Manav Rachna Dental College, FDS MRIIRS, Faridabad, Haryana, India
Manya Jain
BDS, Manav Rachna Dental College, FDS, MRIIRS Faridabad, Haryana, India
Jigyasa Gupta
BDS, Manav Rachna Dental College, FDS MRIIRS, Faridabad, Haryana, India
Juhi Singhla
BDS, Manav Rachna Dental College, FDS, MRIIRS Faridabad, Haryana, India

Abstract


The emergence of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused a pandemic in the modern world. SARS-CoV-2 is a highly mutating virus and thus numerous variants can be seen globally. A crosssectional survey was conducted to assess the knowledge of not only healthcare professionals and students but also of the general population about the different variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The total number of participants that took part in the study was 192. 192 participants took part in the study. Most of the participants were female (63%) between the age group of 19-22 years. The majority of the respondents were Undergraduate medical or dental students (64.06%) followed by the general population (17.7%). During this knowledge assessment, it was seen that the average marks scored were only 5.42 out of 14. Genetic lineage of SARS-CoV-2 have been arising and circulating all over the world since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of the study was to assess the knowledge and perception of healthcare workers and the general population. It was found that the healthcare workers were more knowledgeable and aware about the variant when compared with general population. This is due to the fact that they play a crucial role in diagnosis, containment, and treatment.

Keywords


variants, SARS-CoV-2, knowledge, perception

References