Estimation of Total Cost Required in Controlling COVID-19 Outbreaks by Financial Incentives

Abstract

In this article, we present a Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) to estimate the total cost required to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic by financial incentives. One of the greatest difficulties in controlling the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic is that most infected people are not identified and can transmit the virus to other people. Therefore, there is an urgent need to rapidly identify and isolate the infected people to avoid the further spread of COVID-19. To achieve this, we can consider providing a financial incentive for the people who voluntarily take the COVID-19 test and test positive. To prevent the abuse of the financial incentive policy, several conditions should be satisfied to receive the incentive. For example, an incentive is offered only if the recipients know who infected them. Based on the data obtained from epidemiological investigations, we calculated an estimated total cost of financial incentives for the policy by generating various possible infection routes using the estimated parameters and MCS. These results would help public health policymakers implement the proposed method to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the incentive policy can support various preparations such as hospital bed preparation, vaccine development, and so forth.

The Nigerian youth knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) towards the national drive against the Spread of COVID-19: An online cross-sectional Survey

“…As nations and regions grapple with the manifold challenges presented by this pandemic, it is pertinent to accord due recognition to the pivotal role played by informed knowledge, attitudes, and preventative practices across various demographic strata globally ( Rahman & Sathi, 2020 ; Mahfouz & AlQahtani, 2023 ; Sun et al , 2023 ). While governmental bodies and health agencies have implemented a spectrum of measures aimed at curbing the virus’s dissemination ( Wang et al , 2023 ; Kim et al , 2023 ), encompassing public awareness initiatives ( Yanti et al , 2020 ) and constraints on mobility ( Zhou et al , 2020 ), the efficacy of these interventions is fundamentally contingent upon the willingness of individuals, especially the youth demographic, to embrace and steadfastly adhere to the prescribed behavioural protocols. Therefore, there is an urgent need to facilitate more studies on COVID-19 health promotion among Nigerian youths due to paucity of data on the compliance rate of COVID-19 preventative measures.…”