Introduction:

With the appearance of a new member in the coronavirus family, SARS-CoV-2, humanity started a battle against a hitherto unknown disease, COVID-19.

Objective:

To determine the knowledge, attitudes and practices concerning COVID-19 at the beginning of the emergency in the Dominican adult population.

Methods:

A cross-sectional study was conducted between April 3 and 17, 2020. The data collection instrument was an online questionnaire with four sections: sociodemographic characteristics, knowledge, attitudes and practices concerning COVID-19. The sample consisted of 1861 participants.

Results:

45.7% of the members knew that, in the absence of fever, an infected person can transmit the virus to another person. 27.7% considered the information circulating in the Dominican population as sufficient. 32.2% trusted that the Dominican government would control the pandemic. 91.7% wore face masks in crowded places.

Conclusions:

The results reveal a high level of knowledge, optimistic attitudes and appropriate practices concerning COVID-19 during the initial outbreak of the disease in the country. The Dominican Republic faces a great challenge to control the transmission of the virus; but, unlike other countries, a significant proportion of the participants do not trust the capacities of government institutions to control it. However, other studies should be carried out at the community or at lower socioeconomic levels.

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