The outbreak of corona virus initiated as pneumonia of unknown cause in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, which has been now spreading rapidly out of Wuhan to other countries. On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared coronavirus outbreak as the sixth public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), and on March 11, 2020, the WHO announced coronavirus as pandemic. Coronavirus is thought to be increasing in Pakistan. The first case of coronavirus was reported from Karachi on February 26, 2020, with estimated populace of Pakistan as 204.65 million. Successively, the virus spreads into various regions nationwide and has currently become an epidemic. The WHO has warned Pakistan that the country could encounter great challenge against the outbreak of coronavirus in the coming days. This short communication is conducted to shed light on the epidemic of coronavirus in the country. It would aid in emphasizing the up-to-date situation in a nutshell and the measures taken by the health sector of Pakistan to abate the risk of communication.

Background: The novel coronavirus outbreak, caused by SARS-CoV-2, has proven to be an attack on the global healthcare system, demanding utmost attention from both the healthcare and government officials around the world. The use of face masks is so pivotal in lowering the risk of contracting respiratory viruses, it is crucial to know how many people are actually complying with this protective healthcare policy and what socio-demographic factors (if any) are influencing it. So, the aim was to investigate the adherence rate of face masks among the people of South Asian countries namely Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India, and also to examine correlations between face mask adherence and socio-demographic factors.Methodology: This was an observational study conducted from 15 July 2020 to 15 September 2020. Individuals of age more than 14 years of either gender, who had accessibility to the internet and understood English participated in the study. The three South-Asian countries such as Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh were targeted. The online survey form included questions regarding socio-demographics and the type of face mask they wore. Face mask adherence was classified as “yes” when any type of face mask was worn and “no” when no face mask was used. Statistical software SPSS version 25 was used to analyze data.Results: The mean age of the participants was 31.32±9.83 years. Out of all these participants, there were 826 (46.3%) males and 959 (53.7%) were females. Univariate analysis showed that females, Muslims, education level till graduate, employed, monthly income and Bangladeshi participants had higher odds of face mask adherence (p<0.05). The multivariate analysis showed that females, Muslims, urban residents, secondary level education, employed, monthly income $100 - $300, and Bangladeshi were strongly associated with face mask adherence (p<0.05).Conclusion: Among all three countries, Bangladeshi had high face mask adherence than Pakistan and India. The socio-demographic factors associated with facemask usage were gender, religion, locality, education, employment status, monthly income, and nationality.

The purpose of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of dental school training in diminishing dental treatment anxiety among dental students of Dow University of Health Sciences OJHA hospital. The study included first year students who were given questionnaire based on Norman Corah Scale. The students were again given same questionnaire in their final year. The scores were calculated in first and final year of their dental school. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 23. Paired t-test was used to compare pre and post exposure dental anxiety. The results showed that pre anxiety score at first year was 10.08±3.30 which significantly reduced as 5.06±1.57 at final year after educational exposure (p<0.05).

Objective: To investigate the facemask adherence rate among South Asian countries and to examine association between face mask adherence and socio-demographic factors. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Place and duration of study: South Asian countries (Pakistan, India and Bangladesh), from Jul to Sep 2020. Methodology: A total of 1579 individuals of age more than 14 years, of either gender, who had internet accessibility and understood English, participated in the study. The study was designed on Google forms and distributed through social media networks. The three South-Asian countries, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, were targeted. Data regarding socio-demographics and type of facemask adherence was collected. Results: The mean age of the participants was 31.32 ± 9.83 years. Of all the participants, there were 826 (46.3%) males, and 959 (53.7%) were females. Univariate analysis showed that females, Muslims, education level till graduate, employed, monthly income ≤$300, and Bangladeshis participants had higher odds of face mask adherence (p<0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that females, Muslims, urban residents, secondary level education, employed, family monthly income $100-$300, and Bangladeshis were strongly associated with face mask adherence (p<0.05). Conclusion: Among the three countries, Bangladeshis had higher facemask adherence than Pakistan and India. The sociodemographic factors associated with facemask usage were gender, religion, locality, education, employment status, family monthly income, and nationality.

Objective To explore perceived barriers associated with facemask adherence to prevent spread of COVID-19 spread in Pakistani population. Methodology A cross sectional study was conducted from 25-July 2020 to 5-August 2020. Participants of both genders of age >17 years, currently residing in Pakistan, who had access to internet and understood English were included in the survey. The survey was designed on Google form and was distributed digitally across different areas of Pakistan via social media. Survey included questions regarding socio-demographics, facemask adherence and perceived barriers related to facemask adherence such as perceived risks, health concerns, comfort, social influences, religious/cultural norms and social protocols and health recommendations. SPSS version 23 was used to analyze data. Independent t-test/One-way ANOVA was applied to assess significant difference between perceived barriers to wear face mask and socio-demographic factors, p-value ≤0.05 was taken as statistically significant. Post-hoc LSD test was also applied where applicable. Results Only 20% of the participants reported non-adherence to facemask. Amongst these participants, majority agreed that comfort was the main barrier precluding them from wearing a mask, 89.4% subjects saying that it was too hot to wear it and 84.1% saying that a mask was too uncomfortable to wear. Whereas, 82.1% highly agreed that difficulty in breathing is perceived barrier related to facemask usage. Statistically significant difference was found between health concerns with gender (p = 0.031), locality (p = 0.001) and religion (p = 0.03); comfort with locality (p = 0.007); social influences with gender (p = 0.001), ethnicity (p = 0.001) and locality (p = 0.017); cultural/religious norms with religion (p = 0.001) and social protocols and health recommendations with age (p = 0.015). Conclusion Despite of satisfactory facemask adherence, still there are perceived barriers to it. In order to increase utilization of face masks among the general population, strict health policies should be implemented and awareness regarding the importance of face masks should be enhanced by educational interventions.