Can Technology of Blockchain and AI beat the Spread of Pandemic?
The year 2020 began on a grim note, with the whole world enveloped in gloom following the COVID-19 outbreak. Throughout this 5-month hiatus, Asian countries have fared much better than the first-world nations, purely due to the reliance placed on technology. Despite being highly populated, countries like South Korea and China were more successful in containing the virus because of the innovative technologies that the authorities deployed to perform mass testing and tracking. As a result, these countries have been more successful in containing the virus.
On the other hand, countries like the US, Italy, and several other European nations that failed to ramp up their technologies, continue to suffer. This clearly highlights the need for the strategic implementation of technologies by the concerned authorities for tracking, tracing, and containment. Also, secure data collection is critical to aid medical research pertaining to the novel epidemic. This is only possible by unleashing the power of cutting-edge technologies such as AI and Machine Learning. Now, that is precisely what we are about to discuss — 7 ways in which innovative technologies can help deal with the current crisis.
Geolocation
Your smartphone already knows where you are and this information is precious, especially in times like the coronavirus outbreak. It can be used by authorities to understand region-wise social behaviour and implement effective containment measures such as prevention of crowding. It can also be used to monitor the movements of those who are infected and are supposed to self-isolate.
Disease Tracking
It is now a proven fact that infectious disease surveillance through AI-powered engines is real and effective. Blue Dot, a Canadian AI company involved in disease tracking had made mentions of trouble in Wuhan, almost a month before the World Health Organization. AI Algorithms work by collecting and data from news sources available in regional languages and uses it to send out timely alerts. Such insights can be instrumental in aiding governments plan and implement the necessary control and containment measures, well in advance.
Decentralized Medical Records
Medical Research for novel infectious diseases works in two directions — understanding the nature of the virus and the development of an effective vaccine, which is impossible without the virus itself. As a matter of fact, vaccines contain the weakened version of the virus and therefore, it is essential for researchers to get in touch with those who are already infected.
Besides the creation of the vaccine, it is also essential to understand the nature of the virus, which requires access to medical records. Procuring it has always been a challenge for researchers as the records are spread across multiple repositories of various hospitals. This issue can only be solved through a decentralized data bank, where the patients or their successors are in-charge of their medical records. Medicalveda can turn this vision into a reality through a decentralized blockchain. This helps expedite the data collection process by connecting the researchers and the patients who may be willing to share their medical records.
Interoperability
One of the most common concerns with most Electronic Health Records is the lack of interoperability. Although they allow access to medical records within a specific ecosystem, they remain incompatible with external systems. This common drawback makes it extremely difficult for the patient to access data externally, despite paying for the tests and medical opinion. As a result, patients need to undergo the tests again, which is inconvenient, expensive, and unnecessary.
Sometimes, the patient might not be in a condition to undergo frequent tests, and with that in mind, MedicalVeda has designed an interoperable database that can be accessed from anywhere. These solutions are designed to work seamlessly with any external system. So, getting a second opinion won’t require getting tested all over again.
Secure and Flexible
MedicalVeda’s database is decentralized and is therefore much more secure than a centralized on-premise ecosystem. At the same time, the solution remains flexible because it lets the user deploy self-enforceable smart contracts. This allows the patient — who is the true owner of the medical data — to sell it to researchers or technologists involved in machine learning. So, it helps boost medical research by allowing the true owner of the data to sell it in a secure manner. Medical researchers can then collect medical data straight from the patient, which is essential to create a vaccine for infectious diseases. As mentioned earlier, vaccines include the weaker version of the infectious germ or virus.
Autonomous Delivery
Contagious diseases are called so because they spread through contact and the only way to prevent that is by imposing strict self-isolation rules on those who are infected. Nevertheless, such patients need to be taken care of and that can be done through delivery robots and unmanned vehicles. Investing in such technologies enables authorities to serve the people and restrict the spread of the epidemic at the same time.
Self-Diagnosis Apps
Countries like India, South Korea, and Singapore have made use of mobile applications to help citizens identify the symptoms of coronavirus based on their medical history. Also, it is used to alert citizens about the potential risk when they are around an infected person. For example, the South Korean app Corona100m informs its users about coronavirus patients within 100-meters from where they are. On the other hand, the TraceTogether App developed by the Government of Singapore helps trace the contacts of infected persons and uses it to prevent close contact with such persons.
Conclusion
By the end of 2050, an estimated 68% of the world’s population is likely to relocate to urban regions, which increases the risk of infectious diseases. As the world has already witnessed, densely populated regions such as New York have been the worst-hit.
Therefore, governments across the globe need to start investing in the abovementioned technologies and guard caution. With some effort and a pool of innovative technologies, combatting future pandemics can be much more effective than it is today.
