Repeated time-series cross-validation: A new method to improved COVID-19 forecast accuracy in Malaysia

• Published in: METHODSX
• Main Authors: Aziz, Azlan Abdul; Yusoff, Marina; Yaacob, Wan Fairos Wan; Mustaffa, Zuriani
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: ELSEVIER 2024
• Subjects: Science & Technology - Other Topics
• Online Access: https://www-webofscience-com.uitm.idm.oclc.org/wos/woscc/full-record/WOS:001350596200001

Forecasting COVID-19 cases is challenging, and inaccurate forecast values will lead to poor decision-making by the authorities. Conversely, accurate forecasts aid Malaysian government au thorities and agencies (National Security Council, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Finance, Min- istry of Education, and Ministry of International Trade and Industry) and financial institutions in formulating action plans, regulations, and legal acts to control COVID-19 spread in the country. Therefore, this study proposes Repeated Time Series Cross Validation, a new data-splitting strat egy to identify the best forecasting model that is capable of producing the lowest error measures value and a high percentage of forecast accuracy for COVID-19 prediction in Malaysia. Some of the highlights of the proposed method are: A total of 21 models, five data partitioning sets, and four error measures to improve the forecast accuracy of daily COVID-19 cases in Malaysia. The best model selected produces the lowest error measure value for the Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE), Mean Absolute Error (MAE), Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE), and Mean Absolute Scaled Error (MASE). The average 8-day forecast accuracy is 90.2%. The lowest and highest forecast accuracy was 83.7% and 98.7%