  Epidemics and pandemics have ravaged human life since time. To combat these,
novel ideas have always been created and deployed by humanity, with varying
degrees of success. At this very moment, the COVID-19 pandemic is the singular
global health crisis. Now, perhaps for the first time in human history, almost
the whole of humanity is experiencing some form of hardship as a result of one
invisible pathogen. This once again entails novel ideas for quick eradication,
healing and recovery, whether it is healthcare, banking, travel, education or
any other. For efficient policy-making, clear trends of past, present and
future are vital for policy-makers. With the global impacts of COVID-19 so
severe, equally important is the analysis of correlations between disease
spread and various socio-economic and environmental factors. Furthermore, all
of these need to be presented in an integrated manner in real-time to
facilitate efficient policy making. To address these issues, in this study, we
report results on our development and deployment of a web-based integrated
real-time operational dashboard as an important decision support system for
COVID-19. In our study, we conducted data-driven analysis based on available
data from diverse authenticated sources to predict upcoming consequences of the
pandemic through rigorous modeling and statistical analyses. We also explored
correlations between pandemic spread and important socio-economic and
environmental factors. Furthermore, we also present how outcomes of our work
can facilitate efficient policy making in this critical hour.
