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An efficient approach to nowcasting the time-varying reproduction number

Sumalinab, B.; Gressani, O.; Hens, N.; Faes, C.

2023-10-30 epidemiology
10.1101/2023.10.30.23297251
Show abstract

Estimating the instantaneous reproduction number ([R]t) in near real-time is crucial for monitoring and responding to epidemic outbreaks on a daily basis. However, such estimates often suffer from bias due to reporting delays inherent in surveillance systems. A fast and flexible Bayesian methodology is proposed to overcome this challenge by estimating[R] t while taking into account reporting delays. Furthermore, the uncertainty associated with the nowcasting of cases is naturally taken into account to get a valid uncertainty estimation of the nowcasted reproduction number. The proposed methodology is evaluated through a simulation study and applied to COVID-19 incidence data in Belgium.

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