PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Yosef M. Zakout AU - Fahmida Khatoon AU - Mohamad A. Bealy AU - Nuha AR. Khalil AU - Awdah M. Alhazimi TI - Role of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in the upgrading of personal hygiene. <em>A cross-sectional study in Saudi Arabia</em> AID - 10.15537/smj.2020.11.25402 DP - 2020 Nov 01 TA - Saudi Medical Journal PG - 1263--1269 VI - 41 IP - 11 4099 - http://smj.org.sa/content/41/11/1263.short 4100 - http://smj.org.sa/content/41/11/1263.full SO - Saudi Med J2020 Nov 01; 41 AB - Objectives: To assess the role of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in improving personal hygiene in Saudi Arabia.Methods: We administered a questionnaire distributed online between 19 and 28 May 2020 to determine alterations in personal hygiene practices during this pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic phase.Results: We included 211 respondents from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) in this study. Improvement at different levels was detected in all examined personal hygiene items compared to the pre-pandemic stage. The percentages of respondents who always washed their hands after coming back home (34.1%), used soap to wash their hands (58.8%), used a hand sanitizer outside (5.2%), wore a face masks while outside (1.4%) and washed their hands before preparing and/or eating food (74.9%) was increased before the pandemic to 89.6%, 90%, 63.5%, 59.2% and 89.1% during the pandemic, respectively. The percentage of respondents who never shake hands with people they know increased from 0% before the pandemic to 62.6% during the pandemic. The mean duration of washing hands with soap significantly increased from 13.31 seconds before the pandemic to 28.01 seconds during the pandemic (p&lt;0.0001).Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a noticeable improvement in the personal hygiene habits in Saudi Arabia mainly those related to COVID-19 prevention.