NTU-KU Joint Funding
Final Report

Section 1

NTU principle investigator
Position

Akhmetzhanov, Andrey
Assistant Professor

Faculty/Department

College of Public Health/Global Health Program

Name (last name, first name)

KU principle investigator
Name (last name, first name)
Position
Faculty/Department
Visiting ECR*

Nishiura, Hiroshi
Professor
Graduate School of Medicine/Department of Healthand Environmental Sciences

Name (last name, first name)

Kono, Miku; Ponce, Luis

Position

Master students

Faculty/Department

College of Public Health/Global Health Program*Please complete this section if the KU principal investigators hosted ECRs from NTU.

Host researcher*
Name (last name, first name)
Position
Faculty/Department*Please complete this section if the host researcher is different from the KU principal
investigator.
Section 2Project title
Devising risk-based safe border control during COVID-19 pandemic: lessons fromTaiwan and Japan

Section 3
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Period of project
From dd/mm/yy
to dd/mm/yy

01/04/2022 to 28/02/2023

Section 4

Summary of the project (approx. 100 words)*KU PIs are required to submit a summary of the project in Japanese in addition to theEnglish summary (approx. 200–300 characters).

Andrey Akhmetzhanov (PI from NTU): In October 2022, a joint seminar was organized,
comprising two sessions: one on October 6 presented by KU and the other on October 13 byNTU. Each session featured four invited speakers and was integrated into the NTU Collegeof Public Health's college-level elective course on COVID-19 epidemiology. Subsequently,in January 2023, two NTU students visited the KU School of Public Health for a ten-day stay,which involved their presentations and collaboration on a research project. Following theirstay at KU, one of the students attended the annual meeting of the Japanese Epidemiological
Association and presented a poster on a topic related to the project.
Hiroshi Nishiura (PI from KU): 新型コロナウイルス感染症の流行の影響を受けて、プロジェクト開始当初は必ずしも予定通りに交流は進みませんでした。しかし、2022年10月にオンラインでの共同セミナーを開催したことを皮切りに、2023年1月末にはNTUからの修士課程大学院生の受入れを実現することができました。2022
年10月の共同セミナーではCOVID-19の疫学研究を課題にしたことから、多数の参加者を日台共に得ることができました。2023年1月の訪問時にはCOVID-19の基本再生産数の推定研究を開始し、現在も共同研究としての分析を継続しています。
Section 5 (Please complete this section if ECRs from NTU participated in collaborative research at KU)

Achievements and Outcomes of ECRs’ Stay (approx. 100–250 words)*This section should be filled by each of the ECR(s) (one paragraph per ECR) based on
his/her experience of staying in Japan.
(Please enter the achievements and outcomes for each of the ECR(s).)
Miku Kono will describe our trip in general, and Luis Ponce will describe the research
project they did during our stay in Kyoto.
Miku Kono: We visited Kyoto University from 23 January to 1 February 2023. The
purpose of the visit was to meet professor Hiroshi Nishiura and his lab members to learn
and discuss mathematical modeling for COVID-19.
During the visit to Kyoto University, we attended professor Nishiura’s lab meetings every
Tuesday, and each of us had an opportunity to give a presentation about themselves and theirPage 2 of 8

NTU-KU Joint Funding Final Reportthesis. We received questions and comments from the lab members they can consider as theycreate progress on their thesis research.
We stayed at professor Nishiura’s lab with other lab members during their stay in Kyoto. Wehad an opportunity to ask the lab members about their research projects to deepen theirunderstanding of the lab. The lab members are from various backgrounds and cover a wide
range of topics on COVID-19 currently. Professor Nishiura's lab makes an important
contribution to combatting the COVID-19 pandemic.
On 25 February 2023, we traveled to Chubu University with professor Nishiura where hegave a seminar talk on mathematical modeling in handling COVID-19 infection. They had avaluable time listening to professor Nishiura’s experience since the emergence of COVID-19
and how he and his lab members contributed to minimizing the COVID-19 impacts in Japan
from the beginning to now. We also had time to talk to professor Nishiura during theirtraveling to and from Chubu University about their plans after graduation and their research
project with professor Nishiura.
Luis Ponce: During our visit to Kyoto University, we worked with Kyoto University’s
School of Medicine Professor Hiroshi Nishiura on a COVID-19 research project. We weretasked with collecting necessary data from an expansive database of polymerase chain
reaction (PCR)-confirmed COVID-19 household transmissions from the UK’s Office forNational Statistics (ONS). We then used data on the estimated weekly prevalence, particularly
in England and Wales, to estimate the proportion of the population that would be infectious
when COVID-19 is in an endemic state. Moreover, we used data on PCR sensitivity andSARS-CoV-2’s survivability in a cell culture to more accurately estimate the prevalence thatwould be observed at an equilibrium endemic state. We visualized the prevalence data toillustrate the trend that is being formed among confirmed cases. In addition, we visualized theexpected endemic prevalence according to different values of the basic reproduction number,
R0, and different durations of immunity. Finally, we created a distribution graph of their
expected prevalence and will continue to write about their findings and conclusions.
Section 6

Photographs with captions*Please submit digital files (such as JPEG or GIF files) of the photographs used in yourreport as attachments. The size of each image should be at least 4MB, so that it can be used
for printed materials. Please ensure that none of the photographs submitted will cause anyissues relating to portrait rights.

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Caption: Miku and Luis working on their project together.

Caption: Seminar talk Luis and Miku participated in at Chubu University on January 25th

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Caption: Research discussion with Professor Nishiura

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Caption: Walk to the lab on a snow day

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Caption: Poster for the first session of the NTU/KU workshop that was held on Oct 6.

Caption: Installment of the remote talk on the first session of Oct 6.
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Caption: Poster for the second session of the NTU/KU workshop that was held on Oct 13.

URL at which project outcomes can be viewed (Optional)*E.g. workshop notifications/programs/reports, evidence of academic papers published orotherwise made available, etc.
URL: N/A

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