Background: According to the World Health Organization, viral diseases continue to emerge and represent a serious issue to public health. The elderly and those with underlying chronic diseases are more likely to become severe cases. Our study sets out to present in-depth exploration and analyses of the perceived barriers in practice of COVID-19 prevention measures in South Gondar Zone, Northwest Ethiopia.

Methods: A qualitative study was done in three districts of South Gondar Zone. Community key informants and health care providers were selected purposely for in-depth interviews and Focus group discussion by maintain WHO recommendations for social distancing and use of appropriate personal protective equipment’s. The sample size for the study was depend on the theoretical saturation of data at time of data collection. The qualitative data generated from in-depth interviews and FGDs was transcribed verbatim and translated into English language and thematically analyzed using open code software version 4.02.

Results: A total of 9 community key informants (5 women developments armies (HAD), 2 health extension workers and 2 religious leaders were participated on the in-depth interview while 14 purposely selected community members from four administrative kebeles of the zone were participated for focus group discussion in two rounds (7 participants in each round). The age of participants was ranged from 24 to 70 years with the median age of 48 year. Socio-cultural, religious and economics related barriers were identified from the participant narratives for practice of COVID-19 prevention measures. Presences of strong cultural and religious practices, perceived that the disease does not affect young, misinformation about the disease, lack of trust on the prevention measures were the most important identified barriers for practice.

Conclusions: Lack of knowledge and awareness about the disease, presences of strong cultural and religious practices, perceived that the disease does not affect young, misinformation about the disease, lack of trust on the prevention measures. Our findings show the need for strengthen community awareness and education programs about the prevention measures of COVID-19 and enhancing community-based surveillance activities.

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Keywords: COVID-19, Barriers, Practice, Prevention, Ethiopia