Forecasting Covid-19 New Cases in Sri Lanka

Abstract

COVID-19 is indeed a serious worldwide public health emergency. In this research paper, the ANN approach was applied to analyze COVID-19 cases in Sri Lanka. This study is based on monthly new cases of COVID-19 in Sri Lanka for the period 1 January 2020 – 25 March 2021. The out-of-sample forecast covers the period 26 March 2021 – 31 July 2021. The residuals and forecast evaluation criteria (Error, MSE and MAE) of the applied model indicate that the model is stable in forecasting COVID-19 cases in Sri Lanka. The results of the study indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic may disappear in the country around mid-April 2021. The government, through the ministry of health, should continue to implement COVID-19 control and prevention measures such as isolation, quarantine, testing and tracing, face-mask wearing, sanitization of hands, including vaccinations, amongst other measures in line with WHO guidelines.

Country : Zimbabwe

1 Dr. Smartson. P. NYONI2 Mr. Thabani NYONI3 Mr. Tatenda. A. CHIHOHO

  1. ZICHIRe Project, University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe
  2. SAGIT Innovation Center, Harare, Zimbabwe
  3. Independent Health Economist, Harare, Zimbabwe

IRJIET, Volume 5, Issue 6, June 2021 pp. 479-484

doi.org/10.47001/IRJIET/2021.506083

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