The correct distribution of service facilities can help keep fixed and overhead costs low while increasing accessibility. When an appropriate location is chosen, public-sector facilities, such as COVID-19 centers, can save lives faster and provide high-quality service to the community at a low cost. The purpose of the research is to highlight the issues related to the location of COVID-19 vaccine centers in the city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. In particular, this paper aims to analyze the accessibility of COVID-19 vaccine centers in Jeddah city using maximal coverage location problems with and without constraint on the number and capacity of facilities. A maximal coverage model is first used to analyze the COVID-19 vaccination coverage of Jeddah districts with no restriction on the facility capacity. Then, a maximize capacitated coverage method is utilized to assess the centers’ distribution and demand coverage with capacity constraints. Finally, the minimize facilities model is used to identify the most optimal location required to satisfy all demand points with the least number of facilities. The optimization approaches consider the objective function of minimizing the overall transportation time and travel distance to reduce wastage on the service rate provided to the patients. The optimization model is applied to a real-world case study in the context of the COVID-19 vaccination center in Jeddah. The results of this study provide valuable information that can help decision-makers locate and relocate COVID-19 centers more effectively under different constraints conditions.

The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to the network of interconnected physical devices that are embedded with software, sensors, etc., allowing them to exchange and collect information. Although IoT devices have several advantages and can improve people’s efficacy, they also pose a security risk. The malicious actor frequently attempts to find a new way to utilize and exploit specific resources, and an IoT device is an ideal candidate for such exploitation owing to the massive number of active devices. Especially, Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks include the exploitation of a considerable number of devices like IoT devices, which act as bots and transfer fraudulent requests to the services, thereby obstructing them. There needs to be a robust system of detection based on satisfactory methods for detecting and identifying whether these attacks have occurred or not in a network. The most widely used technique for these purposes is artificial intelligence (AI), which includes the usage of Deep Learning (DL) and Machine Learning (ML) to find cyberattacks. The study presents a Piecewise Harris Hawks Optimizer with an Optimal Deep Learning Classifier (PHHO-ODLC) for a secure IoT environment. The fundamental goal of the PHHO-ODLC algorithm is to detect the existence of DDoS attacks in the IoT platform. The PHHO-ODLC method follows a three-stage process. At the initial stage, the PHHO algorithm can be employed to choose relevant features and thereby enhance the classification performance. Next, an attention-based bidirectional long short-term memory (ABiLSTM) network can be applied to the DDoS attack classification process. Finally, the hyperparameter selection of the ABiLSTM network is carried out by the use of a grey wolf optimizer (GWO). A widespread simulation analysis was performed to exhibit the improved detection accuracy of the PHHO-ODLC technique. The extensive outcomes demonstrated the significance of the PHHO-ODLC technique regarding the DDoS attack detection technique in the IoT platform.

Since the early days of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in Wuhan, China, Saudi Arabia started to implement several preventative measures starting with the imposition of travel restrictions to and from China. Due to the rapid spread of COVID-19, and with the first confirmed case in Saudi Arabia in March 2019, more strict measures, such as international travel restriction, and suspension or cancellation of major events, social gatherings, prayers at mosques, and sports competitions, were employed. These non-pharmaceutical interventions aim to reduce the extent of the epidemic due to the implications of international travel and mass gatherings on the increase in the number of new cases locally and globally. Since this ongoing outbreak is the first of its kind in the modern world, the impact of suspending mass gatherings on the outbreak is unknown and difficult to measure. We use a stratified SEIR epidemic model to evaluate the impact of Umrah, a global Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, on the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic during the month of Ramadan, the peak of the Umrah season. The analyses shown in the paper provide insights into the effects of global mass gatherings such as Hajj and Umrah on the progression of the COVID-19 pandemic locally and globally.

The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most devastating public health emergencies in history. In late 2020 and after almost a year from the initial outbreak of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), several vaccines were approved and administered in most countries. Saudi Arabia has established COVID-19 vaccination centers in all regions. Various facilities were selected to set up these vaccination centers, including conference and exhibition centers, old airport terminals, pre-existing medical facilities, and primary healthcare centers. Deciding the number and locations of these facilities is a fundamental objective for successful epidemic responses to ensure the delivery of vaccines and other health services to the entire population. This study analyzed the spatial distribution of COVID-19 vaccination centers in Jeddah, a major city in Saudi Arabia, by using GIS tools and methods to provide insight on the effectiveness of the selection and distribution of the COVID-19 vaccination centers in terms of accessibility and coverage. Based on a spatial analysis of vaccine centers’ coverage in 2020 and 2021 in Jeddah presented in this study, coverage deficiency would have been addressed earlier if the applied GIS analysis methods had been used by authorities while gradually increasing the number of vaccination centers. This study recommends that the Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia evaluated the assigned vaccination centers to include the less-populated regions and to ensure equity and fairness in vaccine distribution. Adding more vaccine centers or reallocating some existing centers in the denser districts to increase the coverage in the uncovered sparse regions in Jeddah is also recommended. The methods applied in this study could be part of a strategic vaccination administration program for future public health emergencies and other vaccination campaigns.

Like other global mass gatherings, religious pilgrimages, such as Hajj, Arba’een, and the Hindu festival Kumbh Mela, attract millions of pilgrims to gather at specific holy sites on specific dates. During disease pandemics, mass gatherings can become super spreader events, causing exponential growth of infections in multiple regions. Epidemic modeling approaches can be valuable tools for studying the impact of mass gatherings on global health during disease outbreaks. To assess the use of epidemic models at religious pilgrimages, we compile published studies that proposed epidemic models at mass religious gatherings. A review of existing epidemic models at various religious gatherings highlights the role of epidemic modeling approaches in assessing the implications of religious pilgrimages on disease pandemics. All the articles surveyed showed a link between hosting religious gatherings and an increase in the number of cases of the simulated epidemic. In addition, we found that the SEIR mathematical model was the most common type developed with variations in some of the retrieved papers. The results reported in these studies motivate further investigation of the role of epidemic modeling and simulation in estimating the size and geographic scale of infections while hosting religious gatherings. Finally, we believe that this survey article draws attention to the application of epidemic models in the advanced planning of recurrent religious pilgrimages, as it is not feasible to cancel, suspend, or reallocate these pilgrimages. These epidemic models can provide a baseline for policymakers to determine which control measures should be implemented and when.