Predicting COVID-19 cases in Belo Horizonte-Brazil taking into account mobility and vaccination issues

PLoS One. 2024 Feb 23;19(2):e0269515. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0269515. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

The pandemic caused millions of deaths around the world and forced governments to take drastic measures to reduce the spread of Coronavirus. Understanding the impact of social distancing measures on urban mobility and the number of COVID-19 cases allows governments to change public policies according to the evolution of the pandemic and plan ahead. Given the increasing rates of vaccination worldwide, immunization data may also represent an important predictor of COVID-19 cases. This study investigates the impact of urban mobility and vaccination upon COVID-19 cases in Belo Horizonte, Brazil using Prophet and ARIMA models to predict future outcomes. The developed models generated projections fairly close to real numbers, and some inferences were drawn through experimentation. Brazil became the epicenter of the COVID-19 epidemic shortly after the first case was officially registered on February 25th, 2020. In response, several municipalities adopted lockdown (total or partial) measures to minimize the risk of new infections. Here, we propose prediction models which take into account mobility and vaccination data to predict new COVID-19 cases.

MeSH terms

  • Brazil / epidemiology
  • COVID-19* / epidemiology
  • COVID-19* / prevention & control
  • Communicable Disease Control
  • Humans
  • Pandemics / prevention & control
  • Physical Distancing

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais [2020/27196] and by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) in the form of a grants to SJFG [PQ 310075/2019-0] and AMAD [303733/2019-5]. This study was also supported by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG) in the forms of grants to SJFG [PPM 00006-18] and HTM-N [00253-18]. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.