As the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic progressed, distinct variants emerged and dominated in England. These variants, Wildtype, Alpha, Delta, and Omicron were characterized by variations in transmissibility and severity. We used a robust mathematical model and Bayesian inference framework to analyse epidemiological surveillance data from England.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The UK was the first country to start national COVID-19 vaccination programmes, initially administering doses 3 weeks apart. However, early evidence of high vaccine effectiveness after the first dose and the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 alpha variant prompted the UK to extend the interval between doses to 12 weeks. In this study, we aimed to quantify the effect of delaying the second vaccine dose in England.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn recent days, it is becoming essential to ensure that the outcomes of signal processing methods based on machine learning (ML) data-driven models can provide interpretable predictions. The interpretability of ML models can be defined as the capability to understand the reasons that contributed to generating a given outcome in a complex autonomous or semi-autonomous system. The necessity of interpretability is often related to the evaluation of performances in complex systems and the acceptance of agents' automatization processes where critical high-risk decisions have to be taken.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: England's COVID-19 roadmap out of lockdown policy set out the timeline and conditions for the stepwise lifting of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) as vaccination roll-out continued, with step one starting on March 8, 2021. In this study, we assess the roadmap, the impact of the delta (B.1.
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