Machine learning for data-centric epidemic forecasting

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic emphasized the importance of epidemic forecasting for decision makers in multiple domains, ranging from public health to the economy. Forecasting epidemic progression is a non-trivial task due to multiple confounding factors, such as human behaviour, pathogen dynamics and environmental conditions. However, the surge in research interest and initiatives from public health and funding agencies has fuelled the availability of new data sources that capture previously unobservable aspects of disease spread, paving the way for a spate of ‘data-centred’ computational solutions that show promise for enhancing our forecasting capabilities. Here we discuss various methodological and practical advances and introduce a conceptual framework to navigate through them. First we list relevant datasets, such as symptomatic online surveys, retail and commerce, mobility and genomics data. Next we consider methods, focusing on recent data-driven statistical and deep learning-based methods, as well as hybrid models that combine domain knowledge of mechanistic models with the flexibility of statistical approaches. We also discuss experiences and challenges that arise in the real-world deployment of these forecasting systems, including decision-making informed by forecasts. Finally, we highlight some challenges and open problems found across the forecasting pipeline to enable robust future pandemic preparedness.