COVID-19–RELATED ADVERSE EVENTS IN THE PHASE 3 POETYK TRIALS OF THE ALLOSTERIC TYROSINE KINASE 2 INHIBITOR, DEUCRAVACITINIB, IN PATIENTS WITH MODERATE TO SEVERE PLAQUE PSORIASIS

BackgroundDeucravacitinib is a first-in-class, oral, selective, allosteric tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2) inhibitor approved in multiple countries for the treatment of adults with plaque psoriasis. Deucravacitinib suppresses signaling of cytokines involved in the pathogenesis of immune-mediated diseases including psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and systemic lupus erythematosus. Deucravacitinib was efficacious compared with placebo in phase 2 trials in psoriatic arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus.[1,2] In two phase 3 trials in patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis (POETYK PSO-1 [NCT03624127], PSO-2 [NCT03611751]), deucravacitinib showed superior efficacy versus placebo and apremilast.[3,4] Upon completion of either psoriasis trial, patients could enroll in the POETYK long-term extension (LTE) trial (NCT04036435).ObjectivesTo evaluate the incidence rate and severity of adverse events (AEs) due to COVID-19 with deucravacitinib treatment in the POETYK PSO-1 and POETYK PSO-2 trials and open-label POETYK LTE trial.MethodsIn PSO-1 (N=666) and PSO-2 (N=1020), adult patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis were randomized 2:1:1 to deucravacitinib 6 mg once daily, placebo, or apremilast 30 mg twice daily. At Week 16, placebo patients in both trials switched to deucravacitinib. Based on their Week 24 PASI response, apremilast patients continued with apremilast or switched to placebo or deucravacitinib. In PSO-1, patients randomized to deucravacitinib continued treatment for 52 weeks;in PSO-2, some patients randomized to deucravacitinib had a randomized treatment withdrawal period. At Week 52, patients could enroll in the open-label LTE and receive deucravacitinib. Incidence rates and severity of COVID-19–related AEs in the POETYK trials (n=1364;2076.7 person-years [PY] of follow-up) were compared with the Janssen/Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine trial placebo group (n=19,544;3096.1 PY of follow-up). This reference population was selected due to the study design and timing of the trial, which occurred when variants were in circulation.ResultsAs of October 1, 2021, 1519 patients received ≥1 dose of deucravacitinib over a 2-year follow-up period;1364 patients met criteria for this analysis, with deucravacitinib exposure since the pandemic onset (estimated to be January 1, 2020). In total, 153 deucravacitinib patients reported a COVID-19–related AE, for an overall exposure-adjusted incidence rate (EAIR) of 7.4/100 PY (95% CI, 6.2–8.6). Serious COVID-19–related AEs occurred in 43 patients (EAIR, 2.1/100 PY;95% CI, 1.5–2.8), including 30 with COVID-19 and 13 with COVID-19 pneumonia;this rate was within the margins of those for moderate to severe COVID-19 reported in the reference population (EAIR, 16.5/100 PY;95% CI, 15.0–17.9). Deaths due to COVID-19 occurred in 6 patients (EAIR, 0.3/100 PY;95% CI, 0.1–0.6), with the COVID-19–related mortality rate being consistent with the reference population (EAIR, 0.23/100 PY;95% CI, 0.1–0.5). Treatment was discontinued due to COVID-19 or COVID-19 pneumonia in 7 patients, including the 6 patients who died due to COVID-19.ConclusionCOVID-19 was among the most frequently reported AEs during the 2-year period of the pooled PSO-1, PSO-2, and LTE trials due to the temporal overlap of the pandemic with the trials. However, COVID-19 infection and death rates did not differ from the reference population;most infections were not serious and did not lead to treatment discontinuation. Based on this analysis, deucravacitinib did not appear to increase the risk of COVID-19 nor its progression to severe outcomes.References[1]Mease PJ, et al. Ann Rheum Dis. 2022;81:815-822.[2]Morand E, et al. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2022;Nov 11 (Epub ahead of print).[3]Armstrong A, et al. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2022;S0190-9622(22)02256-3.[4]Strober B, et al. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2022;S0190-9622(22)02643-3.AcknowledgementsThese clinical trials were sponsored by Bristol Myers Squibb.Disclosure of InterestsDiamant Thaçi Speakers bureau: AbbVie, Almirall, Amgen, Biogen Idec, Boeh inger Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Galapagos, Galderma, Janssen-Cilag, Leo Pharma, Novartis, Pfizer, Regeneron, Roche, Sandoz-Hexal, Sanofi, Target Solution, and UCB, Consultant of: AbbVie, Almirall, Amgen, Biogen Idec, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Galapagos, Galderma, Janssen-Cilag, Leo Pharma, Novartis, Pfizer, Regeneron, Roche, Sandoz-Hexal, Sanofi, Target Solution, and UCB, Grant/research support from: AbbVie, Almirall, Amgen, Biogen Idec, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Galapagos, Galderma, Janssen-Cilag, Leo Pharma, Novartis, Pfizer, Regeneron, Roche, Sandoz-Hexal, Sanofi, Target Solution, and UCB, Kenneth B Gordon Consultant of: Amgen, Almirall, Dermira, Leo Pharma, Pfizer, and Sun Pharma, Grant/research support from: Amgen, Almirall, Dermira, Leo Pharma, Pfizer, and Sun Pharma, AbbVie, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Celgene, Eli Lilly, Janssen, Novartis, and UCB, Melinda Gooderham Speakers bureau: Glenmark, Actelion, AbbVie, Galderma, Leo Pharma, Pfizer, and Regeneron, Amgen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Celgene, Eli Lilly, Janssen, Novartis, Sanofi Genzyme, and Valeant, Consultant of: Amgen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Celgene, Eli Lilly, Janssen, Novartis, Sanofi Genzyme, and Valeant, Andrew Alexis Speakers bureau: Pfizer, Regeneron, and Sanofi Genzyme, Consultant of: AbbVie, Allergan, Almirall, Amgen, Arcutis, AstraZeneca, Bausch Health, Beiersdorf, Bristol Myers Squibb, Dermavant, Galderma, Janssen, Leo Pharma, L'Oreal, Pfizer, Sanofi-Regeneron, Sol-Gel, UCB, Valeant, VisualDx, and Vyne, Grant/research support from: Almirall, Amgen, Arcutis, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cara, Galderma, Leo Pharma, Menlo, Novartis, and Valeant (Bausch Health), Varsha Lalchandani Shareholder of: Bristol Myers Squibb, Employee of: Bristol Myers Squibb, Julie Scotto Shareholder of: Bristol Myers Squibb, Employee of: Bristol Myers Squibb, Lauren Hippeli Shareholder of: Bristol Myers Squibb, Employee of: Bristol Myers Squibb, Matthew J Colombo Shareholder of: Bristol Myers Squibb, Employee of: Bristol Myers Squibb, Subhashis Banerjee Shareholder of: Bristol Myers Squibb, Employee of: Bristol Myers Squibb, Tamara Lezhava Shareholder of: Bristol Myers Squibb, Employee of: Bristol Myers Squibb, Mark Lebwohl Consultant of: Aditum Bio, Almirall, AltruBio, AnaptysBio, Arcutis, Arena, Aristea, Arrive Technologies, Avotres, BiomX, Boehringer Ingelheim, Brickell Biotech, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cara, Castle Biosciences, CorEvitas' (Corrona) Psoriasis Registry, Dermavant, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Evelo Biosciences, Evommune, Forte Biosciences, Helsinn Therapeutics, Hexima, Leo Pharma, Meiji Seika Pharma, Mindera, Pfizer, Seanergy, and Verrica, Grant/research support from: AbbVie, Amgen, Arcutis, Avotres, Boehringer Ingelheim, Dermavant, Eli Lilly, Incyte, Janssen, Ortho Dermatologics, Regeneron, and UCB.

Collaborative online international learning, social innovation and global health: cosmopolitical COVID lessons as global citizenship education

While COVID-19 has underlined many global interdependencies, it has also made clear the ways in which these globalised connections are structured by profound inequalities. Teaching in this context has been deeply challenging for many educators around the world. For related reasons, though, the pandemic has also created new provocations for global citizenship education (GCE) attuned specifically to the problems of health vulnerability and sub-citizenship caused by socio-economic inequalities. Describing one such educational opportunity, we examine the lessons learned from connecting two university courses across continents through a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) collaboration in the middle of the pandemic. Our courses brought together students from India and the US online to study how health vulnerabilities under COVID compared in the two countries. The collaborations of our Indian and American students helped them to develop practical skills in communication across a vast distance, while also offering cosmopolitical opportunities for learning ‘other-wise'. Based on their reflections on their learning in the course, we suggest that the COIL approach provided a useful set of lessons about how global citizenship education can be enhanced through transnational and collaborative, but also critical and comparative attention to sub-citizenship in the world at large. © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Vaccine Supply Forecasting and Optimization using Deterministic and Probabilistic Approaches

When the pandemic was at its peak, it was a quite difficult task for the government to schedule vaccine supply in various districts of a state. This task became further difficult when vaccines were required to be supplied to various Covid Vaccination Centers (CVCs) at a granular level. This is because there was no data regarding the trend being acquired at each CVC and the population distribution is non-uniform across the district. This led to the arousal of an ambiguous situation for a certain period and hence mismanagement. Now that we have sufficient data across each CVC, we can work on a time series analysis of vaccine requirements in which we can essentially forecast the number of administered doses and optimize the wastage at all atomic CVC levels. © 2023 IEEE.

Does Electronic Banking Improve the Bank Performance of Indian Public Sector Banks: A Study of Post Covid Scenario

The research is to see how E-banking affects the performance of a bank. As a measure of the electronic method of transactions, we used credit cards, debit cards, National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT), Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS), and Point of Sale (POS), while Return on Assets (ROA) was used as a metric of profitability. The research focuses on India's top ten public sector banks, as determined by market capitalization. The findings reveal that digital payment instruments considerably influence return on assets, indicating that internet banking might help banks increase their profitability. Furthermore, the study shows that electronic banking has a significant favorable influence on bank profitability. Financial institutions were able to reduce their banking expenses after the advent of e-banking services. Furthermore, technical progress in the banking industry provides additional potential for banks to improve their interaction with customers, easier access to banking facilities by clients, and banks' market reach with e-banking.

Eco-Environment friendly cost-effective synthesis for sustainable human development in context of globalization

Nanotechnology is nowadays very much successful in producing specifically functionalized nano-sized particles. In this work, copper nanoparticles were prepared by reduction method which is greener and environmentally suitable, cheap and best as compared to other conventional methods, particularly in the context of COVID in globalized world. The formation and size of copper nanoparticles was evidenced by the X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. The very high surface area of 35-50 m2/gm and very small crystallite sizes of 5-15 nm of these metal nanoparticles is mainly responsible for their effective involvement in removal of carbon dioxide gas as one of major hazardous pollutants from the environment. This chapter, as its main objective, mainly focuses on utility of nano technology and its beneficiary in creating a sustainable environment in economic world. Apart from laboratory experimental procedure and characterizations for preparation of copper nanoparticles, appropriate research methods such as simple statistical, econometric tools and mathematical tools have been used for economic analysis. However, as major findings of the results, developed countries have been successful in maintaining a sustainable human development, in spite of having higher per capita income (PCI) growth as compared to the role of developing countries with lower PCI in this global world. © 2022 by Emerald Publishing Limited.

Human crises and the COVID-19 pandemic: a review

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only claimed innumerable lives but the concomitant inflation has also frustrated many small and large enterprises, not to mention the loss of jobs that employees have suffered and sometimes succumbed to through self-harm and suicides. In this context, this paper probes how a politics of representation has deeply informed the dissemination and consumption of ‘COVID news,' rendering a legitimate visibility largely to the loss and contributions of subjects that have access to socio-economic and political resources. Milan Kundera uses the term ‘symbolic voltage' to refer to the role that the media plays in ‘constructing' our everyday realities. In The Lost Dimension, Paul Virilio states that modern media technology has created a ‘crisis of representation' or an optical illusion, where the distinctions between near and far, object and image, have imploded. In a bid to keep apace with a metanarrative of pandemic-engendered loss, the collective consciousness of different societies has not adequately focused on the marginalised subjects–the wage worker, the woman, the juvenile and the scholar from suburban/rural area. The paper argues that the ‘Covid-19-as-a-past' is likely to be represented through the semantics of traditional history, which is a narrative of and by the powerful. © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Cerebral Air Embolism During a Flight

Introduction: We report a case of a 67 year old lady with an acute drop in conscious level whilst on a transatlantic flight. She had a background history of TII DM and recent mild COVID. Past surgical history of a gastric bypass, at which time a CXR had incidentally shown a bulla, with no underlying respiratory symptoms, or history of COPD. Method(s): On arrival in the emergency department, her GCS was 7/15, and she required immediate intubation. Non-contrast CT head showed multiple tiny gas locules in keeping with air emboli. CT Chest, Abdo, Pelvis showed an 88mm bulla within the left lung lingula with a bronchus and many large pulmonary vessels running on its edge. Result(s): It was thought the change in air pressure during the flight caused a communication to open between the bulla and the pulmonary circulation resulting in the release of air emboli. Conclusion(s): She required ITU admission for 8 days. After initial stabilisation she was stepped down to HASU. Neurologically she was dysphagic, dysarthric, quadriplegic and GCS 14 due to confusion. MRI whole spine ruled out spinal cord pathology. Repeat CT head showed air initially present had completely resorbed leaving multifocal, small areas of cortical and subcortical ischaemia in both cerebral hemispheres. MRI head confirmed innumerable small early subacute embolic ischaemic infarcts across multiple vascular distributions.

Sinus, middle-ear and mastoid radiological findings of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the incidence of radiological inflammation within the paranasal sinuses, middle ear and mastoid in patients with confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was conducted to examine consecutive adults (aged over 18 years) with coronavirus disease 2019 (confirmed on polymerase chain reaction within 7 days of imaging) who underwent computed tomography of the head between 1 March 2020 and 24 June 2020. Lund-Mackay and mastoid and middle-ear opacification scores were used to categorise the extent of sinus and mastoid opacification on axial and coronal computed tomography images. RESULTS: Of 147 patients originally identified, only 83 met the inclusion criteria. Sinus opacification was present in 51.8 per cent of patients (n = 43), and middle-ear or mastoid opacification was observed in 24.1 per cent (n = 20). There was no statistically significant difference in sinus or middle-ear and mastoid opacification between patients after stratification based on 30-day all-cause mortality. CONCLUSION: Radiological computed tomography findings suggest mild mucosal disease within the sinuses, middle ear and mastoid. There was no statistical correlation between such opacification and 30-day mortality.

Evaluating the Use of Faecal Immunochemical Testing (Fit) in the Urgent Suspected Colorectal Cancer Pathway during the Sars-Cov- 2 Pandemic

Aim: UK endoscopy services faced challenges prior to SARS-CoV- 2. During the first months of the pandemic, activity fell by 92%. Consequently, in June 2020, NHS England recommended Faecal immunochemical testing (FIT) for all symptomatic patients to rationalise endoscopy. This study sought to evaluate the real-world safety and effectiveness of this approach. Method(s): Patients referred with suspected colorectal cancer (CRC) on the two-week wait (2ww) pathway were asked to complete a FIT. Samples were analysed using the OC-Sensor. While a FIT > 100 mug Hb/g was used to prioritise investigation, all patients were subsequently investigated. FIT results were correlated with diagnostic studies. Result(s): Between January to December 2020, 48% of referred patients had a FIT. 26% was above the threshold of 10 mug Hb/g in and 8.6% above 100mug Hb/g. 347 patients also had a positive FIT but were not referred. The sensitivity, specificity, NPV, PPV, and likelihood ratio at a threshold of 10mug Hb/g were 78.6%(95%CI0.69-0.86%), 36.8%(95%CI0.34-0.39%), 7.1%(95%CI0.057-0.088%), 96.5% (95%CI 0.95-0.98%) and 1.24 respectively. At 100mug Hb/g, this was 37.8%(95%CI0.29-0.48%), 80.2%(95%CI0.78-0.82%), 10.5%(95%CI0.077-0.14%), 95.4%(95%CI0.94-0.96%) and 1.9 respectively. Conclusion(s): FIT shows promise in trials, but our data raises concerns about real-world performance. Only 48% of patients completed FIT before referral, and we are exploring why 347 FIT-positive patients were not referred. While results are broadly congruent with reported literature that suggested 10% of CRC are FIT negative, this is greater in our cohort at 25%. This raises concerns about the safety of discharging patients based on FIT alone. Modifying the FIT threshold may be required and improving safety-netting where FIT is known to be ineffective, such as patients with iron deficiency anaemia.

Impact of Covid-19 on the Severity and Presentation of Colorectal Cancer, a Single Uk Trust Retrospective Cohort Study

Aim: Colorectal cancer pathways were adversely affected as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to assess this impact by comparing diagnoses and acute presentations of colorectal cancer before and during the first and second wave of the pandemic, in a UK hospital covering a population of 800,000. Method(s): Patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer over one year during the COVID-19 pandemic (April 2020 -March 2021), were compared to patients diagnosed in the previous year (April 2019 -March 2020). Groups were compared according to the route of referral, presenting symptoms, and tumour staging. Patients who presented with an emergency admission were further assessed to determine inpatient management and outcomes. Result(s): Colorectal cancer diagnoses fell during the COVID-19 period compared to the year before (261 v 338). Referrals to our cancer pathway fell from 5717 to 2438 (57%) and endoscopies performed from 4389 to 2309 (47%). Fewer patients were diagnosed from primary care, 105 v 174 (P = 0.0062). More patients were diagnosed following emergency admissions 49 v 43 (P = 0.042). At diagnosis, more patients presented with Stage 4 cancer during the pandemic, 65 vs 58 (25% v 17%, P = 0.020). Fewer patients presented with Stage 1, 26 v 63 (10% v 19%, P = 0.0031). Of patients who presented with an emergency admission, there were more cases of bowel obstruction 26 v 14 (P = 0.00046). 30-day mortality was higher in the COVID-19 group 15 v 3 (31% v 7%, P = 0.0044) and palliative care was the initial management in 18 v 7 (37% v 16%, P = 0.003). Conclusion(s): During the COVID-19 pandemic, fewer patients were diagnosed with colorectal cancer at our trust. A greater proportion of patients required emergency admission and presented with higher-stage colorectal cancer. Our results may be attributed to service disruption at our trust and reduced patient engagement with healthcare professionals. Further studies are required to assess the lasting impact of the disruption of colorectal cancer pathways on patient outcomes.

Vaccine Supply Optimization and Forecasting using Random Forest and ARIMA Models

In order to tackle the Corona Virus Disease, it took a considerable amount of time for the governments to come up with effective and efficient vaccines. After the vaccines were developed, the next challenge was to supply the vaccines to various designated centers based on demographics, population distribution, and other factors. The whole system for vaccine supply played a vital role during the COVID-19 pandemic. We also saw a lot of haphazard and mismanagement in some places especially when the cases per day surged high, as people weren't prepared for such a situation. Now that we have got enough data, we can use it to optimize the vaccine supply across various Covid Vaccination Centers and be prepared for any such circumstances in the future. In this paper, we have proposed a two-step approach where considering the past supply and wastage data we performed a classification task that indicates whether doses are to get wasted at a given center. If yes, we then perform demand forecasting based on the number of administered doses so that the wastage can be reduced, and supply can be optimized. © 2022 IEEE.

A secure communication using multifactor authentication and key agreement techniques in internet of medical things for COVID-19 patients

Currently, Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) gained popularity because of an ongoing pandemic. A few developed countries plan to deploy the IoMT for improving the security and safety of frontline workers to decrease the mortality rates of COVID-19 patients. However, IoMT devices share the information through an open network which leads to increased vulnerability to various attacks. Hence, electronic health management systems remain many security challenges, like recording sensitive patient data, secure communication, transferring patient information to other doctors, providing the data for future medical diagnosis, collecting data from WBAN, etc. In addition, the sensor devices attached to the human body are resource-limited and have minimal power capacity. Hence, to protect the medical privacy of patients, confidentiality and reliability of the system, the register sensor, doctor and server need to authenticate each other. Therefore, rather than two factors, in this work, a multifactor authentication protocol has been proposed to provide more secure communication. The presented scheme uses biometric and fuzzy extractors for more security purposes. Furthermore, the scheme is proved using informal and formal security verification BAN logic, ProVerif and AVISPA tools. The ProVerif simulation result of the suggested scheme shows that the proposed protocol achieves session key secrecy and mutual authentication

Holistic strategies to mitigate the economic, societal, and health burden of the Coronavirus disease-2019 pandemic

Pandemics are not the unique features of modern civilization;epidemics/pandemics can be traced back to ancient civilization. History is replete with such pandemics. Coronavirus first originated in Hubei province, China, in November 2019 and then manifested in Wuhan but within a very short span of time it has spread like wildfire all over the world and its impact has been multifaceted. It is indeed an indication of the fact that we live in a truly globalized world. Due to the outbreak of Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), people lost their lives but due to the consequent lockdown, people lost their livelihood, and the economy is shattered. Global GDP and trade experienced a huge contraction during the period of pandemic and the improvements to date are not worth mentioning. Actually, pandemic acts like a serial killer and its aftermath is devastating on human lives and the global economy. © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Vigour and exhaustion for employees working from home: the mediating role of need for structure satisfaction

Purpose: COVID-19 placed millions of employees under work-from-home/telework. Employers intend extending telework for the long-term, anticipating business benefits. But the benefits are impacted by employees' well-being/ill-being, which is affected by the satisfaction of psychological needs. In turn, need satisfaction is influenced by employees' personal/job attributes. As work-from-home's blended environment disrupts routines, the satisfaction of the psychological need for structure or routines was examined in this study, along with the effect of personal/job attributes. Design/methodology/approach: Cross-section primary data were collected from 500 teleworking information technology employees from India and analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling. Vigour and exhaustion represented well-being and ill-being. Telework self-efficacy, standardised job, technology assistance and supervisor social support were the determinants or personal/job attributes. Need for structure satisfaction was the mediator. Findings: Telework self-efficacy, technology assistance and supervisor social support were positively associated with structure satisfaction. In turn, structure satisfaction was related positively with vigour and negatively with exhaustion, and thus mediated between personal/job attributes and vigour/exhaustion. Standardised job did not affect vigour, exhaustion or structure satisfaction. Originality/value: Need for structure is mostly studied as a trait, with implications of greater/lesser preference for structure examined. However, this work acknowledges structure as a basic ubiquitous need. Everyone needs some structure. Hence, need for structure is researched from the novel perspective of its satisfaction. This paper also uniquely combines job demands–resources model which identifies personal/job attributes, with concepts of epistemic which posit the need for structure. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Network-side digital contact tracing on a large university campus

We describe a study conducted at a large public university campus in the United States which shows the efficacy of network log information for digital contact tracing and prediction of COVID-19 cases. Over the period of January 18, 2021 to May 7, 2021, more than 216 million client-Access-point associations were logged across over 11,000 wireless access points (APs). The association information was used to find potential contacts for approximately 30,000 individuals. Contacts are determined using an AP colocation algorithm, which supposes contact when two individuals connect to the same WiFi AP at approximately the same time. The approach was validated with a truth set of 350 positive COVID-19 cases inferred from the log data by observing associations with APs in isolation residence halls reserved for individuals with a confirmed (clinical) positive COVID-19 test result. The network log data and AP-colocation have a predictive value of greater than 10%;more precisely, the contacts of an individual with a confirmed positive COVID-19 test have greater than a 10% chance of testing positive in the following 7 days (compared with a 0.79% chance if chosen at random, a relative risk ratio of 12.6). A cumulative exposure score is computed to account for exposure to multiple individuals that test positive. Over the duration of the study, the exposure score predicts positive cases with a true positive rate of 16.5% and missed detection rate of 79% at a specified operating point. © 2022 ACM.

Assessing the Attitudes and Behavioural responses of society towards COVID-19 Precautionary Measures: The Mediating effect of Risk Perception

The pandemic of Covid-19 Novel Coronavirus is making bold headlines every day, claiming deaths and reeling the economy of each and every nation, ever since its emergence and potential outbreak. The effects of the pandemic has been such that it has stunningly brought a seismic shift in the attitudes and behaviour of the people in a short span of time. It has been observed as of late that people are trying their level best to create mass awareness amongst themselves, involving in practices to curtail the disease and evading any such risks that exposes them to the blood-thirsty disease. The objective of the current research paper is to examine and analyze the attitudes and behaviour of the people of West Bengal towards Covid-19 precautionary measures. For this purpose a framework has been developed by incorporating the construct of Risk Perception as a mediator. To this end, 453 respondents in different districts of West Bengal has been surveyed and their responses has been analyzed. The findings show that risk perception has a positive impact in influencing such attitudes and behaviour among the people of West Bengal.