The question is: can technology aid in helping to curb the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19)?
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a global health emergency due to the rise in the number of infected people from the Wuhan coronavirus. As of April 10, 2020, over 1,601,018 people are confirmed to have been infected with the virus. Causing the deaths of 95,718 worldwide (source).
At this time, there are no specific vaccines or treatments for COVID-19. However, there are many ongoing clinical trials evaluating potential treatments.
How the Internet of Things (IoT) can help Control Coronavirus (COVID-19)
So what are some of the potential ways that the Internet of Things can help control the spread of COVID-19?
Using the IoT to detect an outbreak
Saving Lives through Early Detection is one of the key methods to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. As a result, IoT along with AI is already being used to help predict future outbreak areas.
Leveraging AI-sensors to help with targeted quarantines and quick treatment to mitigate the spread the coronavirus is another tool that can be used.
Long term, the United Nations, W.H.O., as well as other global agencies can start the process of gaining buy-in from governments across the world to develop an early detection system to uncover these infectious diseases before they become global emergencies.
Quarantine compliance made easy with the Internet of Things
The Internet of Things can be used to ensure patient compliance once the potentially infected persons enter into quarantine. Public health personnel can monitor which patients remain quarantined, and which patients have breached the quarantine. The collected data will also help them track down who else may be exposed due to the breach.
How the Internet of Things can help the NHS manage patient care
The challenge for the NHS is how to safely manage patient care, and reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19.
Patients in a hospital quarantine can use IoT devices which enables them to undergo a medical examination without staff direct contact. As a result, patients can have their temperatures taken and upload the data with their mobile devices to the cloud for analysis.
This way, NHS healthcare workers can not only collect more data using less time but also reduce the chance for cross-infection with the patients.
The scalability of the Internet of Things also comes in handy for monitoring all the patients who are high-risk enough to warrant quarantine but not serious enough to warrant in-hospital care.
There is no vaccine and no specific antiviral medicine to prevent or treat COVID-2019. However, those affected should receive care to relieve symptoms. People with serious illness are hospitalized. Most patients recover thanks to supportive care.
The most effective ways to protect yourself and others against COVID-19 are to frequently clean your hands, cover your cough with the bend of elbow or tissue, and maintain a distance of at least 1 meter (3 feet) from people who are coughing or sneezing.
The Internet of Things can help with the Control the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) using existing and new technology. Assisting with disease tracking, quarantines and patient care.
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