scholarly journals Estimating COVID-19 cases infected with the variant alpha (VOC 202012/01): an analysis of screening data in Tokyo, January-March 2021

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroaki Murayama ◽  
Taishi Kayano ◽  
Hiroshi Nishiura

Abstract Background In Japan, a part of confirmed patients’ samples have been screened for the variant of concern (VOC), including the variant alpha with N501Y mutation. The present study aimed to estimate the actual number of cases with variant alpha and reconstruct the epidemiological dynamics. Methods The number of cases with variant alpha out of all PCR confirmed cases was estimated, employing a hypergeometric distribution. An exponential growth model was fitted to the growth data of variant alpha cases over fourteen weeks in Tokyo. Results The weekly incidence with variant alpha from 18–24 January 2021 was estimated at 4.2 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.7, 44.0) cases. The expected incidence in early May ranged from 420–1120 cases per week, and the reproduction number of variant alpha was on the order of 1.5 even under the restriction of contact from January-March, 2021, Tokyo. Conclusions The variant alpha was predicted to swiftly dominate COVID-19 cases in Tokyo, and this has actually occurred by May 2021. Devising the proposed method, any country or location can interpret the virological sampling data.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Md. Hasan ◽  
Akhtar Hossain ◽  
Wasimul Bari ◽  
Syed Shariful Islam

Abstract BackgroundThe outbreak of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), started from Wuhan, China, at the end of December 2019, hits almost the entire world. In Bangladesh, the first case was officially reported on March 8, 2020. We estimated the basic reproductive number, R0, of COVID-19 for Bangladesh using the first 65-day data of the outbreak.MethodsWith time-varying disease reporting rate, epidemic curves were estimated using the exponential growth model utilizing daily COVID-19 diagnosis data in Bangladesh from March 8 to May 11, 2020. We estimated R0 using the estimated intrinsic growth rate (γ). Serial intervals (SI) have been used from two well-known coronaviruses’ outbreaks, SARS and MERS; and the early estimate of SI of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China.ResultsThe COVID-19 epidemic in Bangladesh followed an exponential growth model. We found the R0 to be 1.84 [95% CI: 1.82–1.86], 1.82 [95% CI: 1.81–1.84], and 1.94 [95% CI: 1.92–1.96], for MERS, COVID-19, and SARS SI respectively without adjusting reporting rate. With the adjusted reporting rate, R0 reduced to 1.63 [95% CI: 1.62–1.65], 1.62 [95% CI: 1.61–1.64], and 1.71 [95% CI: 1.70–1.73] for a five-fold increase. Inverse association between the reporting rate and the basic reproduction number was observed.ConclusionThe R0 was found to be 1.87 for existing cases and was reduced to 1.65 for the five-fold increase of the early reporting rate. Findings suggest a continued COVID-19 outbreak in Bangladesh and immediate steps need to be taken to control.


2020 ◽  
Vol 111 (8) ◽  
pp. 629-638
Author(s):  
A. Tejera-Vaquerizo ◽  
J. Cañueto ◽  
A. Toll ◽  
J. Santos-Juanes ◽  
A. Jaka ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Yuexing Hao ◽  
Glenn Shafer

For more than half a century, plastic prod-ucts have been a part of people’s lives. When plastic waste is thrown into nature, it can cause a sequence of dangerous effects. Previous researchers esti-mated that global plastic waste in 2020 will be more than 400 million tons. To reduce plastic waste, they built scientific models to analyze the sources of plas-tic and provided solutions for regenerating these plastic wastes. However, their models are static and inaccurate, which may cause some false predictions.In this paper, we first observe the distribution of the real-world plastic waste data. Then, we build simple exponential growth model and logistics model to match these data. By testing different models on our plots, we discover that the SELF-ADAPTIVE MODEL is the best to describe and correctly predict our future plastic waste production, as this model combines the benefits of SIMPLE EXPONENTIAL GROWTH MODEL and the LOGISTIC MODEL. The self-Adaptive model has the potential to minimize the error rate and make the predictions more accurate. Based on this model, we can develop more accurate and informative solu-tions for the real-world plastic problems.


Author(s):  
Ajit Kumar Pasayat ◽  
Satya Narayan Pati ◽  
Aashirbad Maharana

In this study, we analyze the number of infected positive cases of COVID-19 outbreak with concern to lockdown in India in the time window of February 11th 2020 to Jun 30th 2020. The first case in India was reported in Kerala on January 30th 2020. To break the chain of spreading, Government announced a nationwide lockdown on March 24th 2020, which is increased two times. The Ongoing lockdown 3.0 is over on May 18th, 2020. We derived how the lockdown relaxation is going to impact on containment of the outbreak. Here the Exponential Growth Model has been used to derive the epidemic curve based on the data collected from February 11th 2020, to May 11th 2020, and the Machine Learning based Linear Regression model that gives the epidemic curve to predict the cases with the continuous flow of the lockdown. We estimate that if the lockdown is continuing with more relaxation, then the estimated infected cases reach up to 1.16 crores by June 30th 2020, and the lockdown would persist with current restriction, then the expected predicted infected cases are 5.69 lacs. The Exponential Growth Model and the Linear Regression Model are advantageous to predict the number of affected cases of COVID-19. These models can be used for forecasting in long term intervals. It shows from our result that lockdown with certain restriction has a vital role in preventing the spreading of this epidemic in this current situation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 1329
Author(s):  
Delvacir Rezende Bolke ◽  
Ione Maria Pereira Haygert-Velho ◽  
Luiz Carlos Timm ◽  
Dileta Regina Moro Alessio ◽  
Andréa Mittelmann ◽  
...  

The objective of this study was to assess the growth of annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) cv. BRS Ponteio with different doses of nitrogen applied in the pasture, thereby adjusting their growth to the exponential growth model. A randomized block design was used with five nitrogen application rates (0, 150, 250, 350, and 450 kg N ha-1) and four replicates, applied in installments. Each plot measured 9 m2. On April 15, 2014, 25 kg ha-1 of viable pure seeds of annual ryegrass were sown at a depth of 0.02 m, in 18 rows spaced at 0.17 m in each plot. Growth in the control treatment (zero nitrogen) pasture lasted 167 days with only three cuts, whereas in pastures treated with 350 and 450 kg N ha-1, growth was extended for an additional 45 days with a 333% increase in the number of cuts. The pastures were used for the same duration (188 days) in the treatments with 150 and 250 kg N ha-1, however, increased nitrogen resulted in two additional cuts and a shorter time interval between cuts. The time interval between each cut and the degree-days interacted dynamically causing distinct growth. Growth of the annual ryegrass BRS Ponteio without nitrogen application is poor and cannot be represented even by a first order linear model. The application of nitrogen topdressing, in the form of urea, decreases the time interval between cuts, increases the dry matter production per hectare, stimulates this production, and follows the exponential growth model.


Aquaculture ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 274 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vander Bruno dos Santos ◽  
Eidi Yoshihara ◽  
Rilke Tadeu Fonseca de Freitas ◽  
Rafael Vilhena Reis Neto

1982 ◽  
Vol 114 (6) ◽  
pp. 531-534 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul M. Gargiullo ◽  
C. W. Berisford

AbstractHead capsule widths were measured on 962 larvae of Rhyacionia rigidana (Fernald). Five instars were detected using multimodal analysis, and normal distributions of head widths for each instar are given. Regression using an exponential growth model was used to generate mean head widths according to Dyar's rule. These widths did not differ significantly from observed widths.


2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (123) ◽  
pp. 20160659 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerardo Chowell ◽  
Cécile Viboud ◽  
Lone Simonsen ◽  
Seyed M. Moghadas

Early estimates of the transmission potential of emerging and re-emerging infections are increasingly used to inform public health authorities on the level of risk posed by outbreaks. Existing methods to estimate the reproduction number generally assume exponential growth in case incidence in the first few disease generations, before susceptible depletion sets in. In reality, outbreaks can display subexponential (i.e. polynomial) growth in the first few disease generations, owing to clustering in contact patterns, spatial effects, inhomogeneous mixing, reactive behaviour changes or other mechanisms. Here, we introduce the generalized growth model to characterize the early growth profile of outbreaks and estimate the effective reproduction number, with no need for explicit assumptions about the shape of epidemic growth. We demonstrate this phenomenological approach using analytical results and simulations from mechanistic models, and provide validation against a range of empirical disease datasets. Our results suggest that subexponential growth in the early phase of an epidemic is the rule rather the exception. Mechanistic simulations show that slight modifications to the classical susceptible–infectious–removed model result in subexponential growth, and in turn a rapid decline in the reproduction number within three to five disease generations. For empirical outbreaks, the generalized-growth model consistently outperforms the exponential model for a variety of directly and indirectly transmitted diseases datasets (pandemic influenza, measles, smallpox, bubonic plague, cholera, foot-and-mouth disease, HIV/AIDS and Ebola) with model estimates supporting subexponential growth dynamics. The rapid decline in effective reproduction number predicted by analytical results and observed in real and synthetic datasets within three to five disease generations contrasts with the expectation of invariant reproduction number in epidemics obeying exponential growth. The generalized-growth concept also provides us a compelling argument for the unexpected extinction of certain emerging disease outbreaks during the early ascending phase. Overall, our approach promotes a more reliable and data-driven characterization of the early epidemic phase, which is important for accurate estimation of the reproduction number and prediction of disease impact.


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