How do environmental, economic and health factors influence regional vulnerability to COVID-19?

Pejman Tahmasebi; Salome M.S. Shokri-Kuehni; Muhammad Sahimi; Nima Shokri

As of 7 April, 2020, there are 1,279,722 confirmed cases of Coronavirus disease and 72,616 confirmed deaths due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic affecting 211 countries, areas or territories globally. 1 This unfolding situation has caused unprecedented conditions around the globe, affecting not only human health, but also the global economic, international trade and relations, as well as friction. The extremely challenging global state of affairs has also motivated many experts to investigate various aspects related to the fast spreading virus. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] To this end, several groups have been trying to model the spread of this virus under different scenarios, aiming to project the possible lives that may be lost due to COVID-19, including the influential works at Imperial College London 7 and University of Washington. 8 One of the most important factors in all the models used to describe any infectious disease outbreak is its reproduction number Ü´ . When