ABILITY TO FOLLOW PREVENTIVE MEASURES AGAINST COVID‑19 Following the COVID‑19 outbreak, public health meas‑ ures such as physical distancing, wearing face masks and increased handwashing have been promoted by govern‑ ments and health institutions through many different channels of information. In the ApartTogether survey, re‑ spondents were asked about their ability and willingness to follow the different precautions and preventive measures as well as their sources of information about COVID‑19. Fig. 9 shows regional differences in following the rec‑ ommended preventive measures. Please note that par‑ ticipants in the survey varied from 1084 from the WHO African Region to 6422 from the WHO European Region. Avoiding the public transport and not leaving the house were reported to be the most difficult preventive measures to be followed. Sources of information on COVID‑19 Following COVID‑19 government-initiated preventive measures Access to understandable and reliable information is key to understanding how to protect against infection with or transmission of COVID‑19. The survey found that refugees and migrants mainly got information about COVID‑19 from the news in the country they are currently living in and that social media is a major source of information. It is notewor‑ thy that more than 40% of the respondents turned to news from their country of birth to inform themselves about COVID‑19 (Fig. 10). Most of the refugees and migrants who took part in the survey took precautions to avoid infection with COVID‑19. Increased handwashing, maintaining physical distance and covering nose and mouth were widely followed (Fig. 8). However, respondents indicated that it was difficult to avoid public transport or stay in the home because of their living situation. It was rare that respondents said they did not follow precautionary measures because they did not want to. FIG. 8. Following government-initiated preventive measures Precautions against COVID‑19 62.8 Physical distance 30.8 5.4 67.9 Covering nose and mouth 24.3 4.4 50.9 Avoid public transport 31.6 31.4 Avoid leaving house 0% 24.2 73.0 Handwashing 20% 44.6 40% 60% 15.1 19.5 80% 2.0 0.7 1.0 3.4 2.4 4.5 100% Following precautions against COVID‑19  Yes, all the time    Yes, sometimes    No, unable    No, don’t want to Note: numbers responding were 21 902 for handwashing, 21 645 for physical distance, 21 565 for covering nose and mouth, 21 513 for avoid public transport and 21 378 for avoid leaving house. 14 | Ability to follow preventive measures against COVID‑19