Technologies that help fight the coronavirus

In order to fight the coronavirus epidemic, health care systems take all possible measures, starting from quarantining patients, through closing schools, and ending with canceling mass events. What has also turned out to be helpful are new technologies, especially telemedicine, robotics and artificial intelligence. Here are a few examples.

Telemedicine Airborne diseases quickly spread in densely populated areas. In the last few weeks, we have observed the spread of such a disease in a globalized world, where it can easily travel across borders, with more and more outbreaks. Not all countries are capable of taking as farreaching steps as China, where multi-million population centers have been isolated.

Anyway, it also applies to the common cold and flu viruses, which are contracted by millions of people every year. According to the data gathered by the World Health Organization, up to 5 million cases of the flu are reported around the world every year. 650,000 people die. Paradoxically, a sick patient going to a doctor’s appointment may infect several other people along the way, for example on public transportation or in the waiting room. In Wuhan, where health centers are literally besieged, the chances of getting to a doctor are severely limited. No wonder that the biggest telemedical platform, “Ping An Good Doctor” recorded a 10-fold increase in the number of users in the first weeks of the epidemic. The number of consultations has risen 9-fold and in accordance with data published in mid-February, it has exceeded 1.1 billion visits. Obviously, determining whether we are dealing with the flu or the coronavirus requires testing in a medical center. Nevertheless, teleconsultations make it possible to initially assess the general condition of the patient and take the first steps. Moreover, if it is necessary, doctors from other regions of the world can be asked to handle such consultations whenever the health care system is burdened as extremely as is currently the case in Wuhan in China. In extreme cases, a patient with a suspected coronavi-

rus infection could be examined at home, provided that his or her general condition is good. After all, staying at home is the best prevention. What can also prove to be useful are new services, such as mobile applications for online shopping or ordering food with delivery.

Mass adaptation of wearables, such as smart watches and bands, which regularly collect data on health parameters (including body temperature) could help detect the first symptoms of the disease and notify sanitary services. This could help, because so far, few people have such devices. In this case, it would be possible to make a diagnosis as soon as the first symptoms appear, which would significantly limit the spread of the epidemic.

Robotics The simplest tool in fighting the Covid19 epidemic is a contactless digital thermometer. Every day, the media show photos of medical workers or police officers measuring the body temperatures of passengers at airports from a distance. The result is available immediately, so it is possible to screen out people with a fever. However, it needs to be noted that the efficiency of this method is limited, for example because not every sick person has an elevated temperature, and someone might have already taken medications to lower it.

The sick are always quarantined, regardless of whether they need intensive hospital treatment or develop only a mild disease, because they may still infect others. When it comes to the scale of the Covid-19 outbreak in China, doctors and nurses, who are overburdened with work, also become infected. This is why disinfecting robots which use ultraviolet light are placed in hospital wards. Telepresentation systems make it possible to complete the ward round without the physical presence of a doctor by the patients’ beds. In one of the hotels turned into quarantine wards, a robot delivers food doorto-door. The patients just need to send a massage via WeChat, an application that is very popular in China. For China, the epidemic is a test for the country’s innovativeness. Many companies have started intensive work on updated versions of autonomous robots, which can for example replace people who patrol the streets and industrial infrastructure or those who deliver goods.

Artificial intelligence Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University was the first to use AI to fight the disease. To quickly diagnose patients reporting the symptoms of Covid-19, the hospital uses software developed by the Infervision startup. The system is based on artificial intelligence and analyzes lung X-rays to search for changes typical for patients infected with the virus. A few dozen Chinese hospitals have already implemented the system, which is an immense help to health facilities besieged by thousands of patients. In the case of the coronavirus, quick diagnosis is key, and this is where artificial intelligence comes in. The system improves itself by examining hundreds of thousands of medical scans of both healthy and sick patients. In this way, it can recognize typical early changes in lungs, even if it is still an early stage of the disease.

Nowadays, health care systems have better access to data and solutions used to monitor epidemiological phenomena. Ten years ago, it would have been impossible to compile maps showing the spread of the virus. John Hopkins University from the USA is the leading developer of technologies used in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Thanks to machine learning and data mining, the system gathers data from social media sites and publicly available resources to create interactive maps. In this way, it is possible to implement appropriate preventive measures well in advance. Today, we can precisely monitor the development of the epidemic. Apart from prevention, it is very important for another reason. Society is well-informed, which enables us to avoid the worst-case scenario, which is mass panic. The World Health Organization encourages scientists, public institutions, private companies and governmental health agencies all over the world to share available data about Covid-19. Since we are faced with the threat of a world pandemic, only joint actions can be effective.

Much has also been said about how AI could help develop a vaccine or a cure for the coronavirus. And it will surely be put to this use, so that we can come up with an effective method of fighting the disease as soon as possible. As many scientists emphasize, for now the priority is to understand the virus. But one thing is for sure: today, we have at our disposal technologies which make us better prepared. We can react to epidemiological threats in a shorter time and monitor them more precisely. 

»Contactless temperature measurement, telepresentation systems, teleconsultations, disinfecting robots… Today, we are better prepared to fight the epidemic than 10 years ago.«