Publication:

Assessment of COVID-19 related knowledge, attitude, practice and professional risk factors associated to develop infection among the police personnel of Bangladesh during the rapid rise period of the outbreak

Background Bangladesh police have been engaged in different COVID-19 related containment activities consequently they are being badly affected and sacrifice their lives. However, as a newly outbreak pandemic, there may have lack of proper knowledge, attitude and practices in handling to prevent rapid spreading of deadly COVID-19 virus in Bangladesh.

Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the KAP and associated risk factors with COVID-19 among police personnel during pandemic. Total 2290 police personnel from different metropolitan cities were included and data were collected over telephone interview with an administered questionnaire following a convenient sampling technique. Bivariate associations between categorical variables were examined using Chi-square test. We also explored the independent risk factors for COVID-19 infection using binary logistic regression.

Results Out of 2290 respondents 458 (20%) were found to be COVID-19 positive and majority (42.5%) of them were male (97.5%) and belonged to age group of 31-40 years. Our study showed that an increased risk of COVID-19 infection for those who stayed in police barrack (OR=3.45; 95% CI:1.21-6.42; p<0.021), not practicing social distancing always (OR=2.13; 95% CI:1.12-5.31; p<0.031) and not wearing mask appropriately (OR=2.15; 95% CI: 1.31-4.52; p<0.003).

Conclusions This study provides a unique baseline of KAP and professional risk factors among the police personnel in Bangladesh on COVID-19 which indicated that, community-based health campaigns are obligatory to hold expectant attitudes and practice appropriate intervention measures. KAP study aimed at other front liners should be urgently addressed.