A simple iterative map forecast of the COVID-19 pandemic

We develop a simple 3-dimensional iterative map model to forecast the global spread of the coronavirus disease. Our model contains only one fitting parameter, which we determine from the data supplied by the world health organisation for the total number of cases and new cases each day. We find that our model provides a surprisingly good fit to the currently-available data. It predicts that the disease will run its full course over six to seven months, starting from the date on which the world health organisation provided the first 'Situation report' (21 January 2020 $-$ day 1). The disease may be expected to infect approximately 24% of the global population, i.e. about 1.83 billion people, taking approximately 86 million lives. Unless drastic new interventions become possible, the global number of new cases is predicted to peak on day 129 (about the middle of May 2020), with an estimated 65 million new cases per day. Since our simple model fits the available global data so well, we suggest that the measures being taken so far to contain the pandemic may be ineffective in curbing the global spread of the virus. As such, the efficacy of these measures should be more carefully weighed against their impact on the world economy.