• Masaki Machida, Itaru Nakamura, Reiko Saito, Tomoki Nakaya, Tomoya Hanibuchi, Tomoko Takamiya, Yuko Odagiri, Noritoshi Fukushima, Hiroyuki Kikuchi, Takako Kojima, Hidehiro Watanabe, and Shigeru Inoue.
• Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Tokyo Medical University, 6-1-1 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-8402, Japan; Department of Infection Prevention and Control, Tokyo Medical University Hospital, 6-7-1 Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-0023, Japan.
• Int. J. Infect. Dis. 2020 May 1; 94: 139-144.

ObjectivesTo clarify the implementation status of personal protective measures by ordinary citizens in Japan during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak.MethodsThis was a cross-sectional study based on internet-based survey. A total of 2400 people (50% male: 20-79 years) were selected between February 25 and 27, 2020, from registrants of an Internet research company, to complete a questionnaire. Participants were asked to indicate how often they implemented the following five personal protective measures recommended by the World Health Organization (hand hygiene, social distancing measures, avoiding touching the eyes, nose and mouth, respiratory etiquette, and self-isolation). In addition, the participants responded to questions regarding the daily frequency of hand hygiene events.ResultsThe prevalence of the five personal protective measures ranged from 59.8% to 83.8%, with the lowest being avoiding touching the eyes, nose, and mouth. In total, 34.7% implemented all personal protective measures. The median daily hand hygiene events were 5 per day (25th percentile, 75th percentile: 3,8).ConclusionsThe protective measures implemented by ordinary citizens are insufficient and further public awareness activities are required.Copyright © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

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