The “Secret” Weapon Against the COVID-19

The COVID-19 outbreak is one of the most serious health emergencies the world has ever faced. In an attempt to slower down the infection rate, countries all around the world had imposed unprecedented measures. Some of them worked well, others may be less, but without any doubt, China had relatively quickly managed to put the situation under control. They used technology. Here is how:

1. Fake news detection

At the very beginning of the outbreak in Wuhan, Baidu (the most popular search engine in China, developed by Baidu Inc., Chinese tech company specializing in internet services and AI) instantly launched fake news detection, the service that offered an information on how valid the source is, so that readers can decide whether to trust the information or not. Baidu also introduced maps which were showing the spread of the virus in the real time, as new cases were confirmed, thus informing people which areas are under the greater risk and should be avoided. These tools provided relevant information, delivered in timely manner and helped ease anxiety of people in the early days of COVID-19 outbreak. Following the lead, Alipay, the all-in-one mobile app used for payments, ecommerce, public transportation and used by majority of population in China and Sina-Weibo, the most popular social network, developed similar services. That made it possible to reach millions of people in a matter of hours.

2. Intelligent Sterilization

Intelligent Sterilization Robots, used UV light to sanitize public areas, such as trains, subway, public toilets and similar. Some of them had an additional hydrogen peroxide sprayer in order to perform multiple forms of disinfection in various environments.

3. Online Doctors

January 24th, Alibaba Ali-Health united with Alipay had launched a free online doctor’s consultation service meant for people of Wuhan and the surrounding area. By simply typing “Ask Doctor” in the search box anyone in need could immediately receive dedicated doctor’s attention without leaving the house. The service is still available today, now nationwide, with hundreds of doctors from all around China answering questions every day from 8:30 am until midnight.

4. Epidemic prevention and control robot

January 29th, AISpeech Co., Ltd. launched an epidemic prevention and control software used in government facilities and medical Institutions.

The software was developed to perform: follow-up telephone calls to citizens, important information announcements, communicating epidemic prevention and control information to volunteers and social workers.

5. Self-Driving Vehicles & Zero contact delivery

Beginning of February, as online market had become most people’s first choice, people realized that through the delivery there is still a slight chance for people to get infected. Therefore, JD (popular e-commerce platform in China) had started using self-driving vehicles for delivery. The pioneers in this venture were Wuhan 9th Hospital and the JD Wuhan Post Transfer Station which, at the very beginning of the outbreak, started using AI-aided zero-contact delivery vehicles to distribute medical supplies, in order to save the time and prevent the spread of infections.

6. Health Code/Green Code

February 11th, Hangzhou City of Zhejiang Province was the first one to start using Health Codes. In order to be able to enter public places and public transportation, as well as upon entering the city itself, everyone was required to show the “Green Code”. Depending on the history of travel, signs of symptoms, and people one has been in contact with, the code, easily obtained through a phone app could turn colors to Green (unlimited access to public places), Yellow (home and workplace only) or Red (designated quarantine place or the hospital).

Up until today, there is more than 100 cities in China still using the health code, keeping the potential virus transmissions away from the crowds.

Despite the rocky start of the year, through the smart use of technology, and more importantly by creating a centralized, united front in a battle against COVID-19, China had quickly turned the situation around and brought the life of Chinese citizens back to normal.

Categories: China news, Epidemic control and prevention, Covid-19