Information and Communication Technology in the Fight Against the COVID-19 Pandemic/Infodemic

• Main Author: Shinji Kobayashi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: European Medical Journal 2021-02-01
• Series: European Medical Journal Innovations
• Subjects: coronavirus disease (covid-19); ehealth; information and communication technology (ict); technology
• Online Access: https://www.emjreviews.com/innovations/article/information-and-communication-technology-in-the-fight-against-the-covid-19-pandemic-infodemic/

A new coronavirus infection named coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was discovered in Wuhan, China at the end of 2019, and has rapidly progressed. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic in March 2020. COVID-19 was characterised by the rapidity of the outbreak that was accelerated by transportation networks worldwide. Researchers have attempted various approaches to manage COVID-19, such as genome analyses, diagnostic methods, treatments, and prevention. An ‘infodemic’ situation has developed, whereby misinformation has caused logistical disruptions and resulted in health hazards and shortages of supplies. In Japan, face masks became difficult to find and toilet paper temporarily disappeared from stores because it was thought that it was made from the same paper as masks.1 Similar panic buying and stockpiling has occurred worldwide, disrupting logistics. In Iran, a false rumour circulated that methanol was effective against COVID-19, which led to nearly 500 deaths.2 In the USA, the President Donald Trump made comments about injecting disinfectant, leading to several people drinking the disinfectant and causing them health problems.3 The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) released a statement to make it known that there is no scientific basis for the claim that 5G network accelerated the COVID-19 pandemic.4 Social unrest has increased the stigma attached to those of Asian ethnicity, people who have recovered from COVID-19, and health care workers.5 Even before the COVID-19 outbreak, smartphone apps were being utilised to combat infectious diseases, and more apps have since been developed to tackle COVID-19. Though information and communication technology (ICT) have the capacity to cause an infodemic, ICT has been widely applied as a tool against the COVID-19 crisis. The Taiwanese government disclosed that their advanced information technology capacity helped them to achieve far greater control of COVID-19 than other countries.6 In this article, the author has reviewed the features of successful ICT approaches against COVID-19 and discussed their effects.