An agent-based model for interrelation between COVID-19 outbreak and economic activities

Abstract: As of July, 2020, acute respiratory syndrome caused by coronavirus COVID-19 is spreading over the world and causing severe economic damages. While minimizing human contact is effective in managing the outbreak, it causes severe economic losses. Strategies solving this dilemma by considering interrelation between the spread of the virus and economic activities are in urgent needs for mitigating the health and economic damage. Here we propose an abstract agent-based model for the outbreak of COVID-19 in which economic activities are taken into account. The computational simulation of the model recapitulated the trade-off between health and economic damage associated with lockdown measures. Based on the simulation results, we discuss how macroscopic dynamics of infection and economy emerge from the individuals' behaviours. We believe our model can serve as a platform for discussing solutions to the abovementioned dilemma.