High Risk Areas of Covid-19 Pandemic in UK: An Epidemiological and Spatiotemporal Analysis

Abstract

Since the outbreak of Covid-19 the humanity has faced great global health crisis. Covid-19 have affected all countries of the world, causing thousands of deaths and economic hardships. In United Kingdom as well as other regions of the world, the virus is infectious to people of all aspects of life, social, political, economic as well as moral. The objectives of this study was to ) to understand the epidemiological characteristics of COVID-19 pandemic in UK; 2) to understand the spatiotemporal characteristics of COVID-19 pandemic in UK, and 3) to map out the high risk areas/regions of COVID-19 pandemic in UK. To achieve these objectives, a quantitative study was conducted using secondary data collected from various sources. The data collected included Covid-19 statistics of tests, confirmed cases, and deaths in UK. The data analysis techniques applied comparative analysis, descriptive statistics and spatial autocorrelation using Moran’s I index (Local Indicators of Spatial Association). The findings of the study indicated that that England has the highest rates of confirmed Covid-19 case, deaths and conducted tests while Northern Ireland has the lowest rates of confirmed Covid-19 case, deaths and conducted tests. There were no correlation or relationship between the regions under study, in terms of Covid-19 reported cases, tests or deaths. For both year 2020 and 2021, the Covid-19 confirmed cases, tests and deaths among the four neighboring regions were significantly different from each other. The research recommends that each nation should bear its responsibility of adopting and implementing measures geared towards addressing and controlling the spread of Covid-19 pandemic. As well, individuals should take personal preventive measures to avoid being infected with Covid-19 virus, especially in the high risky areas.