Analysis and forecasts for trends of COVID-19 in Pakistan using Bayesian models

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 is currently on full flow in Pakistan. Given the health facilities in the country, there are serious threats in the upcoming months which could be very testing for all the stakeholders. Therefore, there is a need to analyze and forecast the trends of COVID-19 in Pakistan. METHODS: We have analyzed and forecasted the patterns of this pandemic in the country, for next 30 days, using Bayesian structural time series models. The causal impacts of lifting lockdown have also been investigated using intervention analysis under Bayesian structural time series models. The forecasting accuracy of the proposed models has been compared with frequently used autoregressive integrated moving average models. The validity of the proposed model has been investigated using similar datasets from neighboring countries including Iran and India. RESULTS: We observed the improved forecasting accuracy of Bayesian structural time series models as compared to frequently used autoregressive integrated moving average models. As far as the forecasts are concerned, on August 10, 2020, the country is expected to have 333,308 positive cases with 95% prediction interval [275,034–391,077]. Similarly, the number of deaths in the country is expected to reach 7,187 [5,978–8,390] and recoveries may grow to 279,602 [208,420–295,740]. The lifting of lockdown has caused an absolute increase of 98,768 confirmed cases with 95% interval [85,544–111,018], during the post-lockdown period. The positive aspect of the forecasts is that the number of active cases is expected to decrease to 63,706 [18,614–95,337], on August 10, 2020. This is the time for the concerned authorities to further restrict the active cases so that the recession of the outbreak continues in the next month.