IIT-KGP graduate Arka Koner ('18) helping India launch the first public-domain COVID-19 predictive model
The Weather Channel (June 14, 2020)
Indian Computer Scientists Set to Launch Country's First Public-Domain COVID-19 Predictive Model
Driven by a common passion to build world-class digital public goods for India, a clutch of 10 mostly reclusive computer scientists are launching the country's most detailed and first public domain COVID-19 predictive model indiacovidmodel.in, which unleashes the power of granular district, state and national level visualisation to the public starting mid-week.
The predictive model arrives at a crucial time amid a broader virus surge throughout India. India's nationwide caseload overtook Britain to become the fourth highest in the world, as it passed the grim milestone of 300,000 cases.
"The biggest variable is the data that flows into the model. Our model predicts the absolute number which is not as important as the trend. The trend tells you what to do. Am I going to run out of hospital beds in this district? Those are the questions we are trying to answer. Or for instance, if the positivity rate is greater than 20 percent or the mortality rate is 10 percent in a given district, it is an indicator that testing is not sufficient in the particular district," Vivek Raghavan, a senior team lead on the India COVID-19 model, told IANS. (Read More)