Smart War on COVID-19 and Global Pandemics
Anil Daliprasad Pathak, Debasis Saran, Sibani Mishra, Madapathi Hitesh, Sivaiah Bathula, Kisor Kumar Sahu · 2021
The present global pandemic, COVID-19, has exceeded many other health crises in recent times, including severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MARS), and Ebola. In the intervening period of nearly two decades since SARS, artificial intelligence (AI) has altered our society in unthinkable ways. But how could we utilize it to the fullest extent to fight against COVID-19? With the very high global fatality (>1,100,000 compared to 774 for SARS), frankly, the answer is “Not enough.” So, what is holding us back? Despite the astounding success of modern science and technology, why we looked so vulnerable in front of a non-intelligent creature? Why our strategies and tactical responses lacked perfect coordination and synchronization? Clearly, we shackled our technologies and clipped its wings by creating monolithic centralized technological architectures, which are simply incapable of handling such a large-scale crisis. This study attempts to survey prominent research directions that will shape the integrated future technological paradigm by breaking shackles and creating “trust” in the digital space. In particular, we sketch how blockchain and artificial intelligence will be the agent of this transformation and create a robust first line of defense against future catastrophes of similar or even of bigger magnitude.