The Role of Swab Tests to Decrease the Stress by COVID-19 on the Health System using AI, MLR & Statistical Analysis

The outbreak of the new Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has prompted investigations on various aspects. This research aims to study the possible correlation between the numbers of swab tests and confirmed cases of infection, with special attention to the sickness level. The study is carried out with reference to the Italian case, but the result is of more general importance, in particular for countries with limited availability of ICUs (intensive care units). The statistical analysis shows correlation between the number of swab tests and those of daily positive cases, mild cases admitted to hospital, intensive care cases, recovery, and death rate, and provides a basis to carry on an AI study. The results were validated using a multivariate linear regression (MLR) approach. Our main result is the identification of a significant statistical effect of reduction of the pressure on the Health system as result of the increase of the tests. The relevance of this result is not confined to the COVID-19 outbreak, because the high demand of hospitalizations and ICU treatments due to this pandemic has an indirect effect on the possibility of guaranteeing an adequate treatment for other high-fatality disease, such as e.g. cardiological, and oncological. Our results show that swab testing may play a major role to decrease the stress on the Health system of a country. Therefore, this case study is relevant in particular for the planning of the control of the pandemic in countries with a limited capacity of admission to ICU’s units.