Introduction: The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak affect the global economy and social interaction of people. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the prevention practice of individuals around the public service supplied area and to identify the predictor of prevention practice of individuals towards the COVD-19 pandemic, in Dire Dawa, Ethiopia.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 175 individuals in Dire Dawa from July to August 2020. The frequency was used to describe the respondents' responses. Binary logistics regression was employed to identify the predictors of respondents' prevention practice towards the COVID-19 pandemic. The data were entered by using SPSS version 26 and analyzed using STATA 16 statistical software.

Result: Out of the 175 respondents interviewed in the study, 68.6% were not practicing the prevention recommendation of the COVID-19 pandemic, and only 31.4 % of the participants did prevention practice of the COVID-19 pandemic. Being male was (AOR=0.608, 95% CI:  0.256, 0.968 ), being in age 18-32 years was (AOR=0608; 95% CI: 0256, 0.968), being unemployed (AOR=0.464; 955 CI: 0.154,0.839), having higher education level was (AOR=1.051; 95% CI: 1.235,2.321), and knowledge of COVID-19 was (AOR=2.692; 95% CI: 1.699,4.096) were found to be associated with prevention practices of the participants towards the COVID-19 pandemic.

Conclusion: The prevention practice of the respondents in the public service places towards the COVID-19 was low. The respondents with the highest educational level and who know about the COVID-19 were more likely to practice prevention techniques of the COVID-19 pandemic as compared to their counterparts. Therefore, the concerned body should give education to the community about the implementation of the COVID-19 pandemic prevention knowledge into practices by applying all the protection recommendations as a pre-health ministries restriction to mitigate transmission of the COVID-19 pandemic.