Evaluation of Factors to Respond to the COVID-19 Pandemic Using DEMATEL and Fuzzy Rule-Based Techniques

• Main Authors: Abumalloh, R.A (Author), Ahani, A. (Author), Asadi, S. (Author), Ghabban, F. (Author), Nilashi, M. (Author), Samad, S. (Author), Supriyanto, E. (Author), Yusuf, S.Y.M (Author)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH 2021
• Series: International Journal of Fuzzy Systems
• Subjects: COVID-19; Decision making; Decision making trial and evaluation laboratories; DEMATEL; Emergency situation; Fuzzy inference; Fuzzy rule based; Fuzzy rule-based; Fuzzy rules; Health care; Health care professionals; International travel; Malaysian government; Movement control; Multi-criteria decision making; Public health; Social and environmental; Surveys; Viruses; World Health Organization
• Online Access: View Fulltext in Publisher; View in Scopus
• ISBN: 15622479 (ISSN)
• DOI: 10.1007/s40815-021-01119-5

Since social and environmental conditions have changed dramatically in recent years, the spectrum of diseases caused by infections is also evolving rapidly. The outspread of COVID-19 has resulted in an emergency situation across the globe with significant effects on the population’s lives, families, and societies, leading to concerns the World Health Organization. Accordingly, the virus has substantially threatened the Malaysians’ public health and contributed considerably to increased healthcare expenses. Since the novel coronavirus was found in China, Malaysia’s government has started its actions according to the World Health Organization procedures and concentrated on addressing and preventing the spread of the infection. The present paper aims to find and evaluate the factors to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak in Malaysia, limiting the outspread of the disease in this country. This study used the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) and Fuzzy Rule-Based techniques to evaluate the factors through a set of questionnaires completed by the health care professionals. According to the data analysis results, movement control order, international travel restrictions, and the mass gathering cancellations were of most importance in the prevention of COVID-19 infections transmission. © 2021, Taiwan Fuzzy Systems Association.