An extended fuzzy decision-making framework using hesitant fuzzy sets for the drug selection to treat the mild symptoms of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

The whole world is presently under threat from Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), a new disease spread by a virus of the corona family, called a novel coronavirus. To date, the cases due to this disease are increasing exponentially, but there is no vaccine of COVID-19 available commercially. However, several antiviral therapies are used to treat the mild symptoms of COVID-19 disease. Still, it is quite complicated and uncertain decision to choose the best antiviral therapy to treat the mild symptom of COVID-19. Hesitant Fuzzy Sets (HFSs) are proven effective and valuable structures to express uncertain information in real-world issues. Therefore, here we used the hesitant fuzzy decision-making (DM) method. This study has chosen five methods or medicines to treat the mild symptom of COVID-19. These alternatives have been ranked by seven criteria for choosing an optimal method. The purpose of this study is to develop an innovative Additive Ratio Assessment (ARAS) approach to elucidate the DM problems. Next, a divergence measure based procedure is developed to assess the relative importance of the criteria rationally. To do this, a novel divergence measure is introduced for HFSs. A case study of drug selection for COVID-19 disease is considered to demonstrate the practicability and efficacy of the developed idea in real-life applications. Afterward, the outcome shows that Remdesivir is the best medicine for patients with mild symptoms of the COVID-19. Sensitivity analysis is presented to ensure the permanence of the introduced framework. Moreover, a comprehensive comparison with existing models is discussed to show the advantages of the developed framework. Finally, the results prove that the introduced ARAS approach is more effective and reliable than the existing models. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.