The Similarity of COVID-19-Related Profiles and Pandemic Conditions in ASEAN Countries

Abstrak

Abstract

Abstract This paper examines the potential relationship between countries’ profiles and COVID-19
conditions in 10 ASEAN countries, focusing on new confirmed cases and deaths. We initially clustered
the countries based on demographic profiles and then observed the pandemic situation within each cluster.
The samples of genome sequence, particularly the Omicron variant collected from each country, are also
clustered to investigate the spread of the virus. Furthermore, we created a simple algorithm to identify
countries with profiles similar to ASEAN nations. Our findings show that countries with similar
demographic profiles and geographically proximate are more likely to experience similar pandemic
conditions even though they have no identical genome sequence of the virus. Five of the 10 ASEAN
countries have similar demographic profiles to countries within the ASEAN region and as assumed,
experienced similar COVID-19 situations. Conversely, the remaining ASEAN countries, which share
profiles with countries outside the region, demonstrate fairly different COVID-19 conditions, particularly
with regard to the timing of the spread of the virus. With comparable resources at hand, insights from
countries with similar profiles provide valuable information for effective pandemic management efforts
in the future.
Keywords: ASEAN profiles; clustering; COVID-19; demographic; pandemic management