Introduction COVID-19 pandemic induced lockdown, suspending all on-campus educational activities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), compelling to continue the education online. We explored pharmacy students’ perspective on its impact on their learning. Methods A Twitter chat was organized on three consecutive days, after final examinations, inviting all pharmacy students in KSA to participate. Day 1 chat included 11 questions regarding learning and assessment, Day 2 chat included six questions about online examinations and six questions about technology use, Day 3 chat included six questions related to lessons learnt from the learning experiences during the lockdown. The questions were validated and piloted before the chat. The responses were copied, reviewed to remove any confidential information, and thematically analyzed by two teams of research students independently. Results During the three-day chat, 790 responses were received in total. Thematic analysis generated 944 codes which were categorized into 43 subthemes. These subthemes were further categorized into six main themes: ‘facilitators for online education’, ‘barriers for online education’, ‘online versus onsite education’, ‘role of technology in online education’, ‘suggestions for improving online education’ and ‘long-term impact of online education during lockdown’. Participants highlighted several facilitators and barriers which affected their education during the lockdown, compared online education with onsite education, and provided suggestions for improving online education based on their learning experiences during the lockdown. Conclusion As COVID-19 pandemic and its repercussions are expected to last longer, pharmacy colleges and academic staff will find these findings useful to prepare for the coming years, ensuring pedagogical and accreditation standards.

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Introduction COVID-19 pandemic induced lockdown, suspending all on-campus educational activities in KSA, compelling to continue the education online. We explored pharmacy students' perspective on its impact on their learning. Methods A Twitter chat was organized on three consecutive days, after final examinations, inviting all pharmacy students in KSA to participate. Day 1 chat included 11 questions regarding learning and assessment, Day 2 chat included six questions about online examinations and six questions about technology use, Day 3 chat included six questions related to lessons learnt from the learning experiences during the lockdown. The questions were validated and piloted before the chat. The responses were copied, reviewed to remove any confidential information, and thematically analyzed by two teams of research students independently. Results During the three-day chat, 790 responses were received in total. Thematic analysis generated 944 codes which were categorized into 43 subthemes. These subthemes were further categorized into six main themes: ‘facilitators for online education’, ‘barriers for online education’, ‘online versus onsite education’, ‘role of technology in online education’, ‘suggestions for improving online education’ and ‘long-term impact of online education during lockdown’. Participants highlighted several facilitators and barriers which affected their education during the lockdown, compared online education with onsite education, and provided suggestions for improving online education based on their learning experiences during the lockdown. Conclusions As COVID-19 pandemic and its repercussions are expected to last longer, pharmacy colleges and academic staff will find these findings useful to prepare for the coming years, ensuring pedagogical and accreditation standards.

It is difficult to maintain social distancing in highly populated areas where people live in proximity. This study aimed to qualitatively explore experiences of COVID-19 recovered patients residing in one such area. We employed semi-structured face-to-face interviews. An interview guide was developed, validated, piloted, and minor changes were made. People living in this area, above 18 years of age, and recovered from COVID-19 were approached for the interviews, 11 of them were recruited to be interviewed, and their verbal informed consent was audio recorded. The interviews were conducted in the Arabic language in a semi-private area of the community center, audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and thematically analyzed later. Thematic analysis generated 30 subthemes, which were categorized into seven overarching themes: information about COVID-19; life during COVID-19 illness; spreading of COVID-19; precautionary measures; interventions that helped in recovery; impact of COVID-19 on life; support received during COVID-19 illness. Experiences of people from the hotspot who had recovered from COVID-19 highlighted what life had been like in the hotspot under lockdown, especially with having been afflicted with the infection, factors that facilitated their recovery, and the way their lives were and have been affected due to COVID-19.