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The future is here: The high tech China is using to combat coronavirus
Tech
Shiv Nalapat
Updated May 13, 2020 | 18:35 IST
China's use of emerging technologies against the COVID-19 outbreak in the country will prove to be an important case study in crisis response over the years to come.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
Much has been written both, critically and appreciatively, about the lockdown measures that China instituted upon realising the scale of the threat of the COVID-19 virus. In many ways, those measures have served as a blueprint for several countries, including India, that continue to carry out lockdowns in varying degrees, as they seek to contain the virus from spreading further.
However, China's deployment of emerging technologies in curbing the spread of the virus has been understated, and is likely to become an important case study in outbreak response, in the years to come.
China leveraged a fleet of digital technologies, making use of artificial intelligence, big data analytics, cloud computing, 5G and blockchain, that has ultimately proved invaluable in enhancing its tracking, monitoring, containment, treatment and resource allocation efforts.
Predictive AI
At the very heart of China's response lay Baidu Research's open-source LinearFold artificial intelligence algorithm, which became a key resource for researchers looking to study the virus' RNA structure, and learn more about the nature of the outbreak. The algorithm, reportedly, reduced prediction and wait times by two orders of magnitude, enabling authorities to carry out detection and diagnosis at unprecedented speeds.
Satellite mapping
As far as monitoring and mapping goes, China used geospatial company, Beidou's GNSS constellation of satellites to track infected individuals, and identify potential zones of infection. Through the use of reliable data provided in real-time, the country was able to improve precision in mapping, allowing it to identify key hotspots around which to build two make-shift hospitals in the virus' epicentre, Wuhan.
Facial recognition
Unlike many democratic nations, privacy is not considered an inalienable right in China, which had a mass surveillance infrastructure to take advantage of. As a result, it was able to equip its fleet of facial recognition cameras with thermal sensors that could quickly detect people with high temperatures, as well as those without masks.
Medical AI
Chinese tech and e-commerce behemoth, Alibaba was also able to build and deploy an AI program that could, reportedly, diagnose the infection in an individual with a 96 per cent accuracy, by studying the CT scans of patients' chests.
The AI took just 20 seconds to return a result, as opposed to an average of 15 minutes that a human would take. This not only enabled a drastic reduction in the amount of time taken for diagnosis, but with the software being made freely available to over 1,500 medical institutions around the country, vastly reduced the burden on its doctors.
Contact-tracing apps
Tencent and Alipay also developed informational and contact-tracing apps that users could use to discover if they may have come into contact with a virus carrier, or whether they were better off staying away from particular public spaces. Alipay's app, for instance, was deployed in more than 200 cities, and classified people based on color codes, with red meaning supervised quarantine was required, and green translating to no restrictions on movement.
Robotics
The outbreak also presented an opportunity for robotics companies to demonstrate how effective their products could be during a public health crisis. From the preparation and distribution of meals at hospitals, to disinfecting public spaces, to hand sanitiser dispensation, robots became vital resources that ensured containment measures could be carried out while mitigating risk of infection as much as possible. Some hospitals even employed special medical robots that carried out medical services such as thermometer checks, thermal screenings and medicine delivery.
Drones
In some of the worst affected areas of the country, drones also became valuable assets. Drones were used to transport medical equipment as well as patient samples, in order to save time, while keeping the risk of contamination minimal.
In some cases, drones were also fitted with special QR code placards that people could scan to communicate vital health-related information.
In the countryside, special agricultural drones were deployed to spray disinfectants. In cities, drones with facial recognition technology were also used to broadcast messages to residents and communicate important health-related information.
https://www.timesnownews.com/techno...h-china-is-using-to-combat-coronavirus/591478
Tech
Shiv Nalapat
Updated May 13, 2020 | 18:35 IST
China's use of emerging technologies against the COVID-19 outbreak in the country will prove to be an important case study in crisis response over the years to come.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
- At the very heart of China's response lay Baidu Research's open-source LinearFold artificial intelligence algorithm, which became a key resource for researchers looking to study the virus' RNA structure
- Chinese tech and e-commerce behemoth, Alibaba was also able to build and deploy an AI program that could, reportedly, diagnose the infection in an individual with a 96 per cent accuracy
- From the preparation and distribution of meals at hospitals, to disinfecting public spaces, to hand sanitiser dispensation, robots became critical assets
Much has been written both, critically and appreciatively, about the lockdown measures that China instituted upon realising the scale of the threat of the COVID-19 virus. In many ways, those measures have served as a blueprint for several countries, including India, that continue to carry out lockdowns in varying degrees, as they seek to contain the virus from spreading further.
However, China's deployment of emerging technologies in curbing the spread of the virus has been understated, and is likely to become an important case study in outbreak response, in the years to come.
China leveraged a fleet of digital technologies, making use of artificial intelligence, big data analytics, cloud computing, 5G and blockchain, that has ultimately proved invaluable in enhancing its tracking, monitoring, containment, treatment and resource allocation efforts.
Predictive AI
At the very heart of China's response lay Baidu Research's open-source LinearFold artificial intelligence algorithm, which became a key resource for researchers looking to study the virus' RNA structure, and learn more about the nature of the outbreak. The algorithm, reportedly, reduced prediction and wait times by two orders of magnitude, enabling authorities to carry out detection and diagnosis at unprecedented speeds.
Satellite mapping
As far as monitoring and mapping goes, China used geospatial company, Beidou's GNSS constellation of satellites to track infected individuals, and identify potential zones of infection. Through the use of reliable data provided in real-time, the country was able to improve precision in mapping, allowing it to identify key hotspots around which to build two make-shift hospitals in the virus' epicentre, Wuhan.
Facial recognition
Unlike many democratic nations, privacy is not considered an inalienable right in China, which had a mass surveillance infrastructure to take advantage of. As a result, it was able to equip its fleet of facial recognition cameras with thermal sensors that could quickly detect people with high temperatures, as well as those without masks.
Medical AI
Chinese tech and e-commerce behemoth, Alibaba was also able to build and deploy an AI program that could, reportedly, diagnose the infection in an individual with a 96 per cent accuracy, by studying the CT scans of patients' chests.
The AI took just 20 seconds to return a result, as opposed to an average of 15 minutes that a human would take. This not only enabled a drastic reduction in the amount of time taken for diagnosis, but with the software being made freely available to over 1,500 medical institutions around the country, vastly reduced the burden on its doctors.
Contact-tracing apps
Tencent and Alipay also developed informational and contact-tracing apps that users could use to discover if they may have come into contact with a virus carrier, or whether they were better off staying away from particular public spaces. Alipay's app, for instance, was deployed in more than 200 cities, and classified people based on color codes, with red meaning supervised quarantine was required, and green translating to no restrictions on movement.
Robotics
The outbreak also presented an opportunity for robotics companies to demonstrate how effective their products could be during a public health crisis. From the preparation and distribution of meals at hospitals, to disinfecting public spaces, to hand sanitiser dispensation, robots became vital resources that ensured containment measures could be carried out while mitigating risk of infection as much as possible. Some hospitals even employed special medical robots that carried out medical services such as thermometer checks, thermal screenings and medicine delivery.
Drones
In some of the worst affected areas of the country, drones also became valuable assets. Drones were used to transport medical equipment as well as patient samples, in order to save time, while keeping the risk of contamination minimal.
In some cases, drones were also fitted with special QR code placards that people could scan to communicate vital health-related information.
In the countryside, special agricultural drones were deployed to spray disinfectants. In cities, drones with facial recognition technology were also used to broadcast messages to residents and communicate important health-related information.
https://www.timesnownews.com/techno...h-china-is-using-to-combat-coronavirus/591478
