Coronavirus: Kuwait researchers predict mid-May peak

Health ministry workers, wearing protective outfits, wait on the tarmac of the Kuwait international Airport to receive Kuwaitis returning from Frankfurt. AFP

Researchers in Kuwait have predicted that the country will reach the peak of its coronavirus spread in mid-May using a computer simulation.

The findings will contribute to the assessment of the containment strategy the country has in place, Dr Qathis Al Duwairi, director general of the Dasman Diabetes Institute, which is working to sequence the genome of coronavirus as part of the emergency response.

Researchers from Kuwait Diabetes Institute and Kuwait University developed a simulation designed to study the spread of the novel coronavirus called Predictive mathematical model SARS COV II, based on the SEIR model, which assumes people carry lifelong immunity to a disease upon recovery, but for many diseases the immunity after infection wanes over time.

Last month, Kuwait Emir Sheikh Sabah Al Sabah instructed the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences to allocate 10 million Kuwaiti dinars (Dh117.5m) to tackle the virus.

The DDI has already sequenced the genetic make-up of four samples of coronavirus, director general Dr Al Duwairi said at the time.