Awareness and perception of COVID-19 among the general population: A Middle Eastern survey.

Due to the sudden emergence of the novel coronavirus as a worldwide pandemic, this study aimed to evaluate the awareness and practices of both the Jordanian and Iraqi populations during the early stages of the pandemic. A cross-sectional survey was conducted between the 19th and 22nd of March to assess the public's awareness toward COVID-19. Multiple scored domains were used to assess the differences between the two populations. Statistical analysis was conducted to reveal the influence of sociodemographic variables on these scores. A total of 3167 participants were recruited in the study, of which, 1599 (50.5%) were from Jordan and 1568 (49.5%) were from Iraq. More than half of the Jordanian (56.8%) and Iraqi participants (53.2%) showed average or adequate awareness about COVID-19. More than 60% of both populations relied on medical staff for COVID-19 related information. Social media was the second most common COVID-19 information source, as it was reported by 53.7% of Jordanian participants and 62.8% of Iraqi participants. More than 90% of both populations participated in precautionary measurements. Finally, about 20% of both populations failed to recognize droplet inhalation as a source of transmission. Despite the portrayed awareness levels, governmental involvement is warranted to increase the public's awareness and fill the gaps within their knowledge.

Healthy lifestyle behaviors are major predictors of mental wellbeing during COVID-19 pandemic confinement: A study on adult Arabs in higher educational institutions.

BACKGROUND: In the past infectious diseases affected the quality of lifestyle during home confinement. The study conducted examines the influence of home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak on lifestyle, mental wellbeing, nutritional status, and sleeping pattern. METHOD: An online multicategorical questionnaire was distributed to collect demographic information combined with the following tools: Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ), International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), WHO-5 wellbeing score, and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). A snowball non-discriminate sampling procedure was conducted to collect data from people attending or working at higher institutions from March 1, 2020 to April 24, 2020. A total of 1723 completed responses (917 males, 37.4 ±13.4 years old and 806 females 32.2 ± 11.5 years old) were collected. RESULTS: The female participants had significantly lower mental health scores than males (53.9% vs. 46.1%). The mental wellbeing scores were higher among participants with medium and high physical activity (PA) levels (p < 0.00). Additionally, the mental wellbeing scores were significantly improved by dietary quality and it's sleeping score (p < 0.001). However, PA was by far the major determinant of the mental health scores. CONCLUSION: Factors such as PA, diet, and sleeping patterns were associated with mental wellbeing during the COVID-19 confinement among Arab participants.