Our study results have revealed that physicians have an average level of COVID-19 related knowledge, the mean correct answer rate was 57.1%+ 15.9%. This is consistent with the results of a study conducted in the United Arab Emirates And another study conducted in Iran as the level of knowledge was 61% and 56.5% [15,16] But, lower than that reported in other studies conducted in Egypt, China, Vietnam and Uganda as the knowledge correct answer rate were 80.4%, 90%, 88.4%, and 82.4% respectively [17,18,19,20]. These dissimilarities could be due to differences in the characteristics of the surveyed populations and the scientific level of the items used in evaluating the degree of the infection control knowledge among different studies.
In the current study, the most prevalent correct answers were related to the importance of hand washing with soap or the use of an alcohol-based antiseptic in decreasing the risk of the infection (99.7%), and the importance of maintenance of social distance (97.5%). These results are similar to that have been mentioned in two studies conducted among Saudi HCWs, and Indian undergraduate students were participants reported the importance of hand hygiene before touching the patients in a percentage of 94.1% and 85.4% respectively [21,22] .while the importance of social distancing was in line with a study conducted in El Fayoum governorate, Egypt and another study conducted in Iran as 97% of the participants reported that coronavirus spread via close contact [13,23]
Knowledge level about COVID-19 has been significantly associated with younger age groups (less than 30 years old). Several studies results have found that the younger age group has a higher level of knowledge [17, 18, 24], contrary to other studies that have shown that a higher level of knowledge has associated with the older age group >30 years old [25, 26]. While other studies have reported that there has no association between knowledge and age [27, 28].
In the present study, a statistically significant relationship between physicians' knowledge and their years of experience was detected. This result is dissimilar to that have been mentioned in a study conducted in Pakistan as there was no association between years of experience and the knowledge level [29], on the other hand, other studies have shown that the mean knowledge score was significantly higher among those who had more than ten years of experience [25, 30].
Regarding infection control practices we found that the mean infection control practices score was (78.76 + 12.17), this is in accordance with a study done in Saudi Arabia as 87.9% of health care workers reported good infection control practice [25].
In our study, the most prevalent correct practice was related to hand washing as only 5% of our participants rarely apply proper hand washing, while 58.5% of them always apply it properly. This is higher than that has been found in a study conducted in Brazil as the hand washing adherence rate was 46.25% in critical care unit [31]
About 58.5.5% of the studied group always wears PPE, while only 8.2% rarely wears it properly and 23% always Uses N95 mask during all patient management procedures, this is in line with a study conducted in Saudi Arabia which has reported that 71% of health workers wear the mask during work [32]. Another study that has been carried out in Pakistan has shown that the correct usage of masks was good in 35.2%, moderate in 45.4%, and poor in 19.3% of the studied group [33].In contrast, a study has been carried out in Vietnam has reported that there is a limited number of correct responses regarding items related to the use of personal protective equipment [34].
Our results have revealed that the previous attendance of infection control training courses was the only significant factor affecting physicians' infection control practices. This result reflects the importance of practical training and learning by doing as essential and mandatory requirements for applying proper infection control practices.
Patients' overcrowding and limited infection control material have been reported as perceived barriers by the majority of our study participants, this is consistent with the results of other relevant studies that mentioned these factors as barriers to infection control practices [17, 29, and 35].