Work

Modelling that shaped the early COVID-19 pandemic response in the UK

Year: 2021

Type: article

Abstract: Infectious disease modelling has played an integral part of the scientific evidence used to guide the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the UK, modelling evidence used for policy is reported to the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) modelling subgroup, SPI-M-O (Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling-Operational). This Special Issue contains 20 articles detailing evidence that underpinned advice to the UK government during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in the UK between January 2020 and July 2020. Here, we introduce the UK scientific advisory system and how it operates in practice, and discuss how infectious disease modelling can be useful in policy making. We examine the drawbacks of current publishing practices and academic credit and highlight the importance of transparency and reproducibility during an epidemic emergency. This article is part of the theme issue 'Modelling that shaped the early COVID-19 pandemic response in the UK'.

Source: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences

DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0001

Authors: Ellen Brooks-Pollock, Leon Danon, Thibaut Jombart, Lorenzo Pellis

Institutions: University of Bristol, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Imperial College London, University of Manchester, The Alan Turing Institute

Language: English

Topic: COVID-19 epidemiological studies

Subfield: Modeling and Simulation

Field: Mathematics

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid