Tech: Leading the fight against a global virus

COVID-19 poses a dual threat.

On the one hand, economies have been crippled due to the slowing of production, supply chains and demand. As CNN’s Richard Quest put it, “the global economy has essentially hit a brick wall.” During the week beginning on 9 March 2020, global stock market losses ascended past $16 trillion causing investors to fear that we were on the brink of a worldwide recession.

Equally, if not more devastating, has been the virus’s effect on everyday life, particularly for the elderly and vulnerable. Australia’s lockdown laws, the mass hysteria surrounding grocery hoarding and the increasing dangers of being in mass gatherings of people have rendered many Australians unable to access essential services. 

With governments struggling to cope with the assault on the economic and public health fronts, it is no surprise that the tech sector has made moves to assist the containment and treatment of COVID-19.

Telehealth

Under the Morrison government’s $1.1 billion health package, all Australians will have access to health professionals and other counsellors over the phone and have those appointments subsidised by medicare. $669 million will be allocated to Medicare-subsidised telehealth services to ensure that patients can access healthcare services without having to attend an in-person consultation. 

In Singapore, over a million residents have used a popular telehealth app MaNaDr, which loosely translates to “where are the doctors”, for virtual consults. The app has ensured that only patients that require intensive care travel to hospitals by allowing physicians to prescreen patients online. Patients that experience symptoms are able to check in with their telehealth doctor every evening from their home, effectively reducing the possibility of community transmission. If a patient’s symptoms persist, their doctor can order an ambulance, limiting the individual’s exposure to the public.

Fake News 

The panic caused by the virus has also resulted in the dissemination of disinformation regarding COVID-19. In Iran, almost 300 people have died–with over 1000 others injured–from ingesting industrial grade methanol amid rumours that it can help cure the virus. Text chains have also circulated claiming that a commonality amongst fatalities was that most had ibuprofen in their system.

To combat this additional threat, NewsGuard Technologies have developed initiatives to allow users to filter out misleading rumours and limit the spread of disinformation. The NewsGuard browser extension labels news sources with either a green or red icon to indicate the extent to which a source is trustworthy and whether it has historically published stories labelled as “fake news”. The tool determines a website’s credibility by considering factors such as the accuracy of headlines, degree of demarcation between news and opinion based journalism and the extent to which a website’s ownership has been disclosed. NewsGuard Technologies have also compiled a Coronavirus Misinformation Tracking Center which contains a blacklist of sites that have reported COVID-19 misinformation in the past. Advertisers can use this list to ensure that their adverts are not displayed on sites that spread deceptive information. 

Public Surveillance

Despite the imposition of lockdowns, the closure of borders and the legal consequences of breaching quarantine laws, governments have faced increasing difficulty regarding ensuring that affected or potentially infected individuals remain in self-isolation. In response, some governments have sought to use facial recognition and location tracking to facilitate wider public surveillance. A Reuters report revealed that Chinese authorities had used facial recognition software to track a Hangzhou resident who had left his home before his two weeks of self-quarantine had expired. Police in Spain have taken an Orwellian approach using drones to patrol and broadcast public service announcements encouraging residents to stay home. 

Two biometric companies, DERMALOG and Telpo have adapted its iris and facial recognition hardware to determine temperature which will work even if a person is wearing a face mask. These advancements have come in response to the increasing threat of community transmission. In a press release, Telpo claimed that its technology can detect body temperatures within 0.7 meters to reduce the need for person-to-person contact when temperatures are being taken. 

The Corona-Crisis looks like it is here to stay. While both public and private sectors rush to prevent and contain the spread, only hindsight will show us how effective their efforts actually are.

Sources
NewstalkZB
TIME
TheNewDaily
NYTimes
MediaPost
TechCrunch
Yahoo