Background COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated mandatory e-learning in medical and nursing education. How far are developing countries like India (with wide socioeconomic and cultural diversity) geared up for this challenge remains unexplored. At this critical juncture, we aim to evaluate if online teaching methods are as feasible, acceptable, and effective as in-class teaching for medical/nursing students. Objectives The questionnaire captured: (1) practicability/feasibility of online classes, (2) health issues from online classes, (3) current methods for e-teaching, and (4) student attitudes and preferences. Design Cross-sectional Survey Settings Population-based study in India Participants Nursing and medical undergraduate students (I-IV year) Methodology The online questionnaire was distributed to 200 medical and nursing colleges across India. Categorical variables were analyzed using chi-square tests. Binary logistic regression was done to analyze factors predicting health issues in students. p<0.05 was considered significant. Results Overall, 1541 medical and 684 nursing students completed the survey from 156 cities. The availability of laptop (p<0.0001), Wi-Fi (p<0.0001), dedicated room (p<0.0001), and computer proficiency was more in students of affluent families and those from cities (p<0.0001). Class duration>4hours/day (p<0.0001), each class>40 minutes (p<0.009) and pre-existing health issues (p<0.0001) predicted the occurrence headache, eyestrain, anxiety, neck/ back pain, and sleep disturbance. Power-point presentation was the most widely (80%) used method of teaching. Only 30% got adequate time to interact with teachers. Only 20.4% felt e-learning can replace conventional teaching. Students preferred: 3-6 classes/day, each class<40 minutes, 10-20 minutes break between classes and interactive sessions. Conclusion There is a need to improve information and communication infrastructure to enhance feasibility of e-learning for nursing/ medical students in India. There should be guidelines (number of classes/day, length of each class, break between classes, curriculum, etc) to improve the retention capacity in students and reduce health issues. Continuous feedback from teachers and students will be required to make e-learning effective.

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Background and Aims: The COVID-19 Pandemic has been raging across continents in recent months. Public health measures are crucial in preventing COVID-19. The Government of India declared a nationwide lockdown on 24 March, 2020. The objective of this study is to assess preparedness among general public and healthcare providers against COVID-19 by way of adopting public health measures at the very beginning of the nationwide lockdown in India. Settings and Design: A rapid cross sectional electronic survey was conducted across the country between 25 and 27 March, 2020. Methods and Materials: Participants were general public and healthcare providers. Online questionnaire was generated in Google Forms. This included precautionary measures such as staying home, hand hygiene, wearing masks, cough hygiene and advisory against face touching. The web link to the form was shared through WhatsApp. Statistical Analysis Used: Descriptive data analysis was done using Epi Info software (version-7). Results: A total of 226 persons (general public = 183; healthcare providers [HCPs] = 43) participated in the study. During the lockdown, HCPs spent more time outside than the general public ( p = 0.009). Only 47% of the participants claimed to practise frequent hand washing and majority (72%; n = 163) did not wear masks while outdoors. Almost a half (45%) of the participants touched their face frequently and very few (8%) participants covered their mouth or nose while coughing or sneezing. There was no significant difference between HCPs and general public in frequent hand washing ( p = 0.456), wearing masks ( p = 0.255), face touching ( p = 0.632) or covering mouth/nose while coughing or sneezing ( p = 0.428). Conclusion: There is lack of preparedness among general public and healthcare providers against COVID-19 at the beginning of the nationwide lockdown in India.