New Online Tool Highlights Potential Future COVID-19 Virus Hotspots

A new online tool can identify potential COVID-19 hotspots by highlighting which regions have the most at-risk factors and can also supplement test-and-trace technology in highlighting potential future infection spikes.

Developed by the University of Oxford’s (Oxford, UK) Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science, the tool combines key data of known COVID-19 vulnerabilities such as age, social deprivation, population density, ethnicity and hospital resources, to show potential risks, to a granular local level, thereby allowing policymakers to target resources effectively. Combining age, social deprivation, population density, and ethnic composition of multiple layers of data with hospital capacity, the researchers have produced online maps to identify the most at risk areas in England and Wales, which can be viewed at different administrative levels.

“With additional outbreaks and second waves, thinking not only regionally, but at much smaller scale at the neighborhood level will be the most effective approach to stifle and contain outbreaks, particularly when a lack of track and trace is in place,” said Professor Melinda Mills, author and Director of the Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science.

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