How can Information Technology help resolve the Covid-19 Pandemic?

Stockholm University Read about Stockholm University's view on how technology will shape the outcome of the pandemic.

  Remote working technologies to support social distancing and maintain business continuity As pandemics or other calamities keep threatening the business world, working from home ensures business continuity as well as facilitates social distancing. In such a scenario, technologies that enable secure access to data, enterprise applications, virtual meetings, cloud conferencing, and virtual/mixed/augmented reality are the forefront leaders to ensure deliverables are not impacted. Remote working is a blessing that comes due to technology and is of one the greatest solution that helps us in social distancing.   

  Contact-less movement and deliveries through autonomous vehicles, drones and robots Self-driving cars, drones, robots can all help at a time when the need is to avoid human contact. Autonomous vehicles can be used to transport affected people to and from healthcare facilities with ease, without risking the lives of healthy people. Robots can be used for delivering grocery, cooking means, sterilizing hospitals and patrolling the streets. Drones can be used for food deliveries, tracking population, carrying test kits and medicines to quarantine locations, thermal imaging to identify infected people, spraying disinfectant, and more.  

Increasing traceability and transparency by sharing data During a pandemic, clear messaging to the populace is critical to make sure they are informed and reminded to use appropriate precautions. Some instances include:   Microsoft Bing launched an interactive COVID-19 map to provide widespread disease news.  Social platform like TikTok has partnered with WHO on COVID-19 to help keep their users knowledgeable with correct, timely facts, along with a live stream from the WHO where users will be able to ask questions and seek answers.  Sixfold has published a free live map of border crossing times for trucks to enable all of Europe’s supply chains to understand expected delays in receiving shipments.  Taiwan CDC central epidemic command centre (CECC) is combining health data with the travel data, to build a monitoring system and provide real-time alerts  

Finding Drugs When a new pandemic strikes, the first question on everybody’s mind is if there’s a drug to cure it or a vaccine to prevent it. The world is now desperate to find ways to slow the spread of the coronavirus and to find an effective treatment. Technology is becoming an enabler to make the process faster.