WHAT ROLE DOES DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY PLAY IN COMBATING COVID-19?

The response to the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and following COVID-19 pandemic was aided by technology. The virus's combination of lethality and transmissibility has provided a challenge to officials and exposed critical flaws in the old public health system. However, technology has responded to the need for a new type of public health throughout the pandemic, demonstrating prospects for increased agility, scalability, and reactivity. rnMany of us already spent most of our waking hours on our phones, but digital technology has become more vital than ever amid the current shelter-in-place measures. Remote communication using our own digital devices, such as our smartphones and services of custom software development company, essential to staying connected with friends, family, and coworkers now that we cannot engage in face-to-face interaction. I'd like to explain three other ways that our digital gadgets have a significant impact during this epidemic, as well as the obstacles and critical role of data science. 1. Mental health applications might help to decrease anxiety and stress COVID-19 has received a lot of media attention, making us feel uncomfortable and stressed, along with social distancing techniques. As a result, we must use the digital tools available to us. There are smartphone apps that can help people cope with this challenging time, backed up by research. In addition, several private-sector-developed meditation and wellness applications have now made free memberships available to help with anxiety relief. Headspace, for example, has recently released a collection of meditation and mindfulness content tailored exclusively for COVID-19. One disadvantage of these health and wellness apps is that while many individuals download them, most of them are only used for a short time. This could be because many apps aren't tailored or entertaining enough, causing users to lose interest rapidly. However, we might be able to improve these apps using data science. Machine learning algorithms, for example, can leverage user data to build recommendation engines that forecast user behavior and optimize app content. This is a huge challenge in mobile health that requires a lot of work but has much potentials. 2. Application can help us to track COVID-19 effects Several governments has take a creative initiative to track down the symptoms of Covid-19. They have used the mobile app development to track down the Covid-19 cases in order to take precautionary measures to save their people. This will eventually provide researchers with a massive dataset that they can use to figure out why COVID-19 symptoms differ so much from person to person and, potentially, where outbreaks begin. Applications can make this easier to track the record for the Covid-19 symptoms and can help to make a better change in decreasing the number of cases. Furthermore, researchers at the University of Oxford have released an app that allows users to track who they've been in contact with and alerts them if any of their contacts have tested positive for the coronavirus, allowing them to decide whether or not to self-isolate. 3.Smartphones helping in tracking locations Many have suggested that the growing usage of smartphones gives a unique opportunity for more effective contact tracing because cellphones preserve information about a user's location through their GPS history. In the United States, the government is considering using GPS and movement data from Americans' smartphones in conjunction with big tech companies to combat the coronavirus. 4. Mobile apps could help to distribute reliable information The National Health Service (NHS; the publicly funded healthcare system) in the United Kingdom recently began collaborating with tech businesses to offer accurate public information on COVID-19. Singapore has also been using websites and social media platforms regularly to keep the general public informed and instructed on limiting the danger of infection. Meanwhile, doctors and health institutions might use social media and text messaging to deliver accurate information to their patients and the general public. Endnote During the COVID-19 epidemic, our digital gadgets, along with rigorous data science, are critical. However, the employment of digital technology during this epidemic, while potentially transformative, is fraught with obstacles and consequences.