We all remember the previous deadly Ebola virus outbreak, which lasted three years from 2013–2016 affected the dominant population of Africa.
Coronavirus has affected significant regions of China and some parts of the world.
Will present technological innovations help us in fighting Coronavirus, more than before?
Since the Lunar New Year holiday, 87 China-based businesses have received more than $200 million in loans through a cross-border, pilot blockchain finance platform, Xuan Changneng, vice director of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, disclosed at a press conference on Saturday. (source)
But before we dive into a few more ways blockchain is assisting China right now, let's look at a brief history of virus outbreaks recorded prior to Coronavirus in 2019, for some perspective:
Outbreak of Coronavirus
Health experts originally believed the virus originated at a wholesale seafood market in Wuhan, China; originating in an animal and crossing over to humans. The jury's still out on that one, though:
In the case of the new coronavirus, initial reports from China tied the outbreak to a seafood market in central Wuhan. As a result, local authorities closed down the market on January 1.
However, later assessments have since suggested that this market was unlikely to be the single source of the coronavirus outbreak, as some of the people infected with the virus had not been frequenting the market.
Specialists have not yet been able to determine the true source of the virus or even confirm whether there was a single original reservoir. (source)
China confirmed that it could be spread from human-to-human transmission.
Coronavirus is compared to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), two alike infectious diseases that caused minor panic when they were spreading. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 774 people died out of the 8,098 people who were infected with SARS between 2002 and 2003. The severity of the new coronavirus compared to SARS is still unknown.
The first death was registered in Beijing on the 27th of January 2020. Total of 73,439 registered cases, 1,875 deaths and 13,170 recovered cases worldwide as of 19th February 2020.
Technology vs Calamities
The Coronavirus outbreak in China has left mortifying effects on Chinese businesses and the economy. This epidemic outbreak is affecting a lot of economic activities, majorly impacted on the supply-chain industry worldwide. It is not only China that has been affected by this unfortunate development.
Blockchain against Coronavirus is rising as the redeeming factor for the Asian country.
Numerous blockchain-based applications have been developed since the outbreak of the disease to tackle the threat of the virus. Many dApps are designed to ensure people’s privacy, identity, and medical records on the blockchain along with other medical conditions.
Technological initiatives being taken to fight against Coronavirus:
- Chinese blockchain startup Hyperchain developed a blockchain-based donation tracking platform called Shanzong. Doners can track their donations at every stage and see when their money resembles the needed medical equipment.
- Xiang Hu Bao is a Chinese Insurance Firm using blockchain technology to process Coronavirus claims, this helped the firm reduce paperwork and the need for back-and-forth documents delivery to clinics. This also helps to mitigate the risk of infection from face-to-face contact.
- The blockchain-based platform enables the review, recording and tracking of demand, supplies and logistics of epidemic prevention materials initiated by Alipay along with Zhejiang Provincial Health Commission and the Economy & Information Technology Department.
- Insilico’s A.I.-based system, which took just four days to identify thousands of new molecules that could be turned into potential medicines against the coronavirus.
- Acoer a company providing blockchain technology to healthcare and life sciences institutes to easily track and visualize the virus outbreak around the world.
Blockchain delivers information in ways that are tamper-proof and traceable. It achieves an exact collection of epidemic data and dispels rumors, helping citizens to cope with the epidemic positively and reasonably - a huge technologically-enabled advantage not previously available to countries facing crises like novel Coronavirus.