ABSTRACT
Background: Hesitancy towards COVID-19 vaccination and its rejection remains a major public health concern worldwide, especially in the Middle East and North African countries. The current study aimed to assess the intentions to get COVID-19 vaccines and its determinants among the general public in Algeria. Methods: A self-administered online survey was distributed during August-September 2021 using a convenience-based sampling approach. Data were collected anonymously and analyzed using IBM SPSS v22.0 software. Results: The study sample comprised a total of 656 participants, with 51.1% being in favor of COVID-19 vaccines while 18.5% and 30.5% were against or hesitant respectively. Only 38.6% among the study participants got vaccinated. Factors associated with higher odds of acceptance were: male sex, healthcare profession, the belief in natural origin of the pandemic and previous COVID-19 infection in family. The most common cited reasons for COVID-19 vaccine acceptance were the belief that vaccination is the only way to fight COVID-19 and the fear of getting infected by the virus;while the most common reasons of rejection were lack of trust in proper vaccine testing and fear of side effects. Conclusion: The overall level of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance in this study was below the levels required to achieve population immunity. Besides certain socio-demographic characteristics, the determinants of COVID-19 vaccine rejection included the embrace of conspiratorial ideas regarding the virus and its vaccination. This should be considered in implementation of interventional measures aiming to promote COVID-19 vaccination in the country.
ABSTRACT
This study was conducted to predict the number of COVID-19 cases, deaths and recoveries using reported data by the Algerian Ministry of health from February 25, 2020 to January 10, 2021. Four models were compared including Gompertz model, logistic model, Bertalanffy model and inverse artificial neural network (ANNi). Results showed that all the models showed a good fit between the predicted and the real data (R2>0.97). In this study, we demonstrate that obtaining a good fit of real data is not directly related to a good prediction efficiency with future data. In predicting cases, the logistic model obtained the best precision with an error of 0.92% compared to the rest of the models studied. In deaths, the Gompertz model stood out with a minimum error of 1.14%. Finally, the ANNi model reached an error of 1.16% in the prediction of recovered cases in Algeria. .
ABSTRACT
Objectives: Since the first report the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in China on December 2019, enormous number of researches are ongoing to understand its epidemiological characteristics. One of the most important tools used to understand the epidemic curve and to predict its dynamic are epidemiological and statistical/mathematical models. Methods: We used an SIR (Suspected-Infected-Recovered-Deceased) model to estimate the coefficients of infection, recovery and death, the reproduction number, the specific time of contact, the rate of recovery to the rate of death and the basic reproduction number and the peak of the COVID-19 epidemic in Algeria. Results: According to the estimation of the SIRD model the peak of the epidemic will be reached on August-September in Algeria. The coefficient of infection, recovery and death are estimated at 0.1655, 0.1077 and 0.0035 (day-1) respectively. The basic reproduction value is 1.4876. The specific time of contact is estimated at 6.0423 days and the rate of recovery to the rate of death is estimated at 30.4183. Conclusion: These results could contribute in the epidemiological characterization of COVID-19 in Algeria which will be helpful for the Algerian Authorities in the anti-COVID-19 battle. Results highlight also the role of the SIRD model in the study of COVID-19 dynamics.
ABSTRACT
The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was reported in Algeria on 25 February 2020. Since then the number of positive cases has reached 42 619, and 1465 deaths have occurred. The current manuscript aims to describe epidemiological indicators and the measures implemented to halt the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic in Algeria. This work showed that the urgency in the implementation of containment measures has been associated with relative control of the epidemic despite two peaks in the epidemic curve, at the end of April and in mid-July. Since early August, the number of daily cases has decreased and the government has started a second step in relaxing containment.
ABSTRACT
The Novel Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), first detected in Wuhan (China) in December 2019 is quickly spreading across the globe leading to a shocking number of 3,305,595 cases and 235,861 deaths on May 1st, 2020. Algeria is the fourth most affected country in Africa with a number of 4154 positive cases and 453 deaths. The objective of the current manuscript is to describe the actual situation of COVID-19 in Algeria.