The entire world is fighting against coronavirus and scientists are searching for different ways to control the situation and end this pandemic.
AI and Data Science are massively being used to find a solution to this widespread outbreak. In the race to find a vaccine, researchers are speeding up the process to discover, test and deploy a vaccine.
From collecting data related to the virus and its spread to using robots in hospitals, AI and Data Science are playing a huge role in the war against Covid-19. As per reports, Canadian company BlueDot predicted the movement of the virus back in December 2019 after finding various unusual cases of pneumonia in Wuhan.
Not only for detection, but the technology is being used to help to find drugs, vaccines, and cure to eradicate the disease and its spread.
Scientists are working on research papers to understand every aspect of the virus.
But the question many are asking is how AI and Data Science can and is help in the fight against Coronavirus?
Data Collection
The White House along with various research centers has launched the “COVID-19 Open Research Dataset” to collect all the available information about the coronavirus. This data set is publicly available.
Within a few days of its launch, the data set had a huge collection of the published data and now scientists are using it to understand patterns of the virus. This collection of information also helps scientists connect with each other and stay better informed on the global happenings. This saves time and resources with intelligence around the research already done.
Diagnose and Detect the Virus
Artificial Intelligence companies are launching AI solutions that help diagnose and detect Coronavirus. For example, Chinese company Alibaba developed an AI-powered diagnosis system for getting results in seconds.
Also, China used a surveillance system from SenseTime to detect possible virus infection in people based on their body temperature. The system used facial recognition technology and temperature detection software. This temperature based system is now being used across the world. Early detection of the virus is very helpful in blocking its spread.
Development of a vaccine
AI and Data Science can help in faster development of the Coronavirus vaccine by understanding the structure of proteins, which are made up of a sequence of amino acids that determine its unique 3D shape.
Because the essential part of any virus is proteins, understanding its structure can help scientists develop a vaccine for it. Google DeepMind has introduced AlphaFold, a system that predicts the 3D structure of a protein based on its genetic sequence. Such systems can help speed up research in finding a vaccine for Coronavirus.
Use of Robots
Many hospitals around the world have replaced humans with robots to treat people affected with coronavirus. Even though it is a very minute percentage, this will decrease human interaction and result in less chances of spreading the disease among doctors and nurses.
Need for an on-demand healthcare app during the COVID-19 crisis
Not just hospitals but many areas where the spread is large, robots are being used to monitor the situation and health of the affected person.
AI’s Contribution
There is no doubt that AI has emerged as a powerful technology to help and deal with the threat. AI is a tool, but it is upto us to use it to its full potential for the benefit of the world.
Now more than ever, the world needs a technology that can research, store and match massive information to compute results in days that could manually take years.
AI is already being used to develop drugs for various diseases but this is the time where it is required the most to support and treat the deadly Coronavirus.