ABSTRACT
Background:With the increasing rate of COVID-19 cases and mortality across the globe, countries and most people have adopted precautionary and preventive measures to avoid been infected with the disease. However, several trending myths and misconceptions also floodsthe world during this era.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 587 participants (53% males, 78% aged 18-30 years, and 74% having at least tertiary level education) in Ghana, using a convenience snowballing sampling approach. A self-designed questionnaire based on “World Health Organization (WHO) myth-busters” was used for data collection. A logistic regression model was developed to explore variables predicting misconceptions.Results: With about 75% of respondents believing they knew “a lot” about coronavirus, 41% (confidence interval: 37-45) reported a high level of knowledge on the new coronavirus misconceptions. Social media (87%), and television/radio (57%) were the major sources of knowledge. Masters/Ph.D. degree education, National democratic congress (NDC)political members, other political party members, excellent self-health ratings, social media, respondents that anticipate a remedy in 1-5 years, and the perception that the government is “not doing enough” in fighting the pandemic, were reported factors predicting knowledge in a multiple logistic regression model (p<0.05). Region of residence, political affiliation, self-health ratings, predicted time of remedy, and level of knowledge on covid-19 misconceptions were also associatedwith the perception of government efforts (p<0.05).Conclusion: Most Ghanaians have much belief in trending misinformation related to the pandemic. Public health education and campaigns should address these misconceptions and encourage the public to seek information from credible sources