Although COVID-19 has created an ocean of uncertainties, there are few lessons to learn from the way countries are tackling this Pandemic. China and South Korea are prime examples that have showcased a practical demonstration of managing COVID with digital technologies. We investigated their crucial activities and have come up with an insightful blog that can help you deploy technology to handle such an outbreak.

A sudden surge in the coronavirus cases in China and then South Korea led to extensive efforts in developing a well-organized testing program with the proper use of new-age technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Big Data, etc. Additionally, isolation of infected people, tracing and quarantine their related contacts assisted in flattening the COVID-19 curve, setting examples for the other countries across the globe.

Here are some of the key technologies/solutions trends in these nations to combat this outbreak:

• Development of AI-enabled testing kit: Leveraging AI, Seegene, a life sciences company in South Korea created a coronavirus testing kit in a span of just three weeks. It enabled widespread testing focused mainly on the high-risk people comprising – patients suffering from any disease, the elderly, people living in crowded areas, passengers arriving from the countries with expanding cases of coronavirus infection.
• Sharing vital information via Mobile apps: Companies are constantly developing new innovative apps to facilitate the sharing of information in this outbreak surroundings. For instance, a mobile app is developed to guide people having symptoms to reach to the nearest available testing station and get tested. Another app is made to help the community search for the nearest available medical shops/centres to purchase the COVID-19 essentials like masks, sanitizers, etc.
• Location-based technologies at the forefront: Technologies with precise positions are helping to examine the situation, identify the most affected/risky areas, and carry out relief rehabilitation efforts for the same. BeiDou, a Chinese Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) constellation, assisted in tracking patients and affected areas with virus containment. It also helped in analyzing the outbreak pattern. As it enabled precise mapping and imagery with the availability of accurate and reliable data, China could establish quarantine hospitals at large scale across the nation.
• Rise of Robots on the Frontline: Hospitals were being staffed by robots entirely to handle tasks from preparing food to vending rice, spraying disinfectants to dispensing hand sanitizers. Cloud robotics company – CloudMinds, China Mobile, and Wuchang hospital collaborated to facilitate services that can be carried out by robots as most of the devices here are IoT-based.

5G-enabled thermometers are being used to screen patients and send instant updates, monitoring all body changes via rings and bracelets connected to CloudMinds AI platform. Robots like Smart Transportation Robot and Cloud Ginger (aka XR-1) are assigned to supply food and medicine to patients from care providers without human contact.

• Flying Drones to the Rescue: Drones have been the most successful technology in this outbreak as it helped in transporting patient samples and medical equipment. Further, it enhanced the delivery time and prevented the risk of virus spread in humans and contamination of samples.

Terra Drone business partner AntWork flew a medical delivery drone that helped in combating COVID-19 with the transportation of medical trials and quarantine essential stuff in Xinchang County.

• Delivering Essential Goods with Autonomous Vehicles: As human contact is strictly restricted to reduce containment of this deadly virus; autonomous vehicles are acting as key enablers for delivering essentials like foods, medicines, etc. Baidu’s autonomous vehicle, Apollo partnered with self-driving startup Neolix to distribute food and other supplies to Beijing-based hospitals. Micro-car kits and autonomous driving Cloud services can be accessed for free to organizations combating COVID-19.

Pandemic control measures of China and South Korea have paved a clear path of technological opportunities for Technology Service Providers (TSP) in the public sector. TSPs capabilities in IoT/Edge technologies, Application development and Infrastructure and Data management will be key for the governments to accelerate their measures.

Draup’s Sales Intelligence Platform is highly intuitive and gives opportunity signals to the TSPs. With these signals, TSPs can come up with top-notch digital solutions for the clients looking for such reformatory output. On a positive side, these insights are helpful for successful sales enablement converting leads into clients.