For the first time since 1918, which is when the Spanish flu wreaked havoc on the global population, killing some 50 to 100 million people and shrinking the global economy by 5 per centx, the world is in a pandemic. The novel coronavirus – otherwise known as COVID-19 – was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation last Wednesday, sending shockwaves throughout the world as it began to comprehend the full extent of damage that will likely be caused by the highly infectious disease spreading through the world like wildfire. France and Italy are in complete lockdown, Australians travelling overseas have been told to return home ASAP, and the U.S. has just seen its 100th death from the deadly virus.
Around the world, scientists, researchers and pharmaceutical manufacturers are racing to develop a vaccine for the coronavirus, before it truly takes hold and puts an unprecedented burden on healthcare facilities worldwide. But what if new technologies could help us fight the pandemic even more effectively than a vaccine?
It’s no secret that technologies like artificial intelligence, big data and blockchain have changed the world in recent years, disrupting the way we live, work, eat and play. So it begs the question: can these fabulous technologies not also help us during a global crisis? According to leading experts, apparently they can, through the modelling and sharing of health data, developing drugs to help fight the virus, and through directing robots to clean up unsafe areas, or even treat people in quarantine or isolation.
Last week, executives from some of the biggest tech companies in the world met health officials in London as well as those in the White House to discuss whether or not they could help fight the pandemic. Amazon, Google, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft were all represented, and the discussions were focused on using data and AI to model and track health data relating to infection. Inspired by China’s use of AI and big data in their response to the novel coronavirus, the rest of the world is wondering whether it can emulate the same approach of the global superpower in quashing the virus using similar technologies.
So what is it exactly that China has done? It has installed thermal scanners at train stations in major Chinese cities which use artificial intelligence (AI) and big data to recognise and identify people with fever, before automatically alerting the authorities to communicate that information to every person who had been travelling on that same carriage. While China’s long-standing national travel regulations – which enforce that to travel on public transport one must book a ticket using personal identification – certainly helped make this possible, other countries could make a significant impact by also installing facial recognition technology and thermal scanners in public places.
One AI company has said it is working on a tech solution that combines body detection, face detection and dual-sensing via infrared cameras and visible light to help staff identify people who have elevated body temperatures in public places, while one artificial intelligence company has launched an AI-based solution that improves healthcare facilities’ imaging department’s CT diagnosis speed while being 96 per cent accurate at diagnosing the coronavirus. It could seriously reduce the burden on healthcare workers, who are currently working overtime and are seriously under-equipped to be diagnosing potentially infected patients at the rate they need to.
AI could also help healthcare systems and companies process health claims faster at a time where – once again – staff and companies are feeling the burden of an unprecedented number of claims and enquiries. One blockchain-based platform developed by Ant Financial can not only reduce the face-to-face contact between patients and hospital staff or insurance personnel but it can speed up the processing time required for claims relating to coronavirus.
Drones are another technology being used by governments worldwide to deal with the ramifications of the virus – from delivering medical supplies to isolated areas, hovering over streets in lock-down to detect human presence, to thermal imaging. It’s no use having the elderly zip down the road to the pharmacy to fetch medical supplies during this time – the simple truth is that the elderly, as well as those with pre-existing conditions – must self-isolate if they wish to survive the virus. A drone can allow this, through the delivery of essential medications, food supplies – even entertainment and letters from friends and family.
All this being said, it’s not a time to get our hopes up – too much. While AI is certainly being explored as a diagnostic tool, or to find a vaccine to the novel coronavirus, and while other technologies are in the process of being developed, it will take some time (possibly many months) to get to the stage where health-care workers have access to these technologies and tools. But there is at least some hope for the future. Hopefully – potentially before this pandemic is over and certainly before the next one cripples the global society – we will reach a point where technology isn’t just used to make ordering takeaway meals easier or finding a partner, but delivering effective solutions to global health crises like the pandemic we currently face.
