Post-pandemic COVID-19 estimated and forecasted hotspots in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries in connection to vaccination rate

Abstract

After a two-year pandemic, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is still a serious public health problem and economic stability worldwide, particularly in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries. The objective of this study was to identify the wave periods, provide an accurate space-time forecast of COVID-19 disease and its relationship to vaccination rates. We combined a hierarchical Bayesian pure spatiotemporal model and locally weighted scatterplot smoothing techniques to identify the wave periods and to provide weekly COVID-19 forecasts for the period 15 December 2021 to 5 January 2022 and to identify the relationship between the COVID-19 risk and the vaccination rate. We discovered that each ASIAN country had a unique COVID-19 time wave and duration. Additionally, we discovered that the number of COVID-19 cases was quite low and that no weekly hotspots were identified during the study period. The vaccination rate showed a nonlinear relationship with the COVID-19 risk, with a different temporal pattern for each ASEAN country. We reached the conclusion that vaccination, in comparison to other interventions, has a large influence over a longer time span.