How AI Is Proving Helpful in Mitigating Coronavirus Pandemic
It is an era where ‘data is the new oil’, artificial intelligence (AI) has proven to be an indispensable part of the fight against COVID — the global pandemic. AI is being used from research to healthcare to agriculture, while it is also an effective tool that supports efficient remote communication, enables telemedicine, and protect food security. The world has been taken by surprise with the sudden appearance and rapid spread of COVID-19 which is why speed has become of vital essence.
Although genetic code sequencing of the new coronavirus and producing diagnostic tests for it was done in record time, scientists are still racing against time to develop the drugs and vaccines against the virus. AI is thus helping in accelerating the process of drug discovery, by making quality data extracted from our DNA, lifestyle, and environmental factors easily-accessible.
AI fighting COVID-19, the highlights:-
- AI enhances our capacity to reason based on the available biomedical data and information in a systematic search. This is helpful in proper screening, tracking, and predicting current and future patients.
- AI is accurate in predicting mortality risk by evaluating the patient’s previous data. Beside it is helpful in population screening, prepare medical help, and sending notifications in real-time and offering suggestions to control infection.
- With early detection and diagnosis of the infection drugs and vaccine development has become faster.
- In an ever-changing environment, the capability of the machine to handle the ginormous amount of data is more accurate and can be precisely harnessed for tireless and unbiased super-researches.
- In high-pressure times, AI is trying to reduce the workload of healthcare workers significantly.
And though AI is fairly young, it seems to have outshone its worth to fight the largest global pandemic since the Spanish flu.
The Main Applications Of AI Fighting The COVID-19 Pandemic
Early detection and diagnosis of the infection
With quick analysis and red flagging of COVID symptoms, the authorities are alerted about the patients in no time. This accelerates decision making, developing a new diagnosis and management system, thus bringing down the cost of efforts around COVID detection and treatment. Combined with medical imaging technologies like Computed tomography (CT), Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan the AI is making diagnostic of COVID faster and accurate.
Accurate and constant treatment monitoring
AI’s smart network has the ability to automatically monitor and predict the spread of the virus. Exact visual features of this disease can be framed through the neural networks for better monitoring and treatment of COVID 19. The regular updates about affected individuals also keep coming on a day-to-day basis, helping in providing follow-up treatment and diagnosis.
Contact tracing of the individuals
AI has the ability to process huge amounts of data in the shortest period of time which is why it has become a valuable tool to analyze the infection levels, virus detection, and identifying the hot spot clusters. It can thus be successfully used for tracing individuals and the areas they have contacted to help predict the disease and its reappearance.
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Identifying mask violators through AI
As the cases of COVID are surging, monitoring a large set of the population for taking proper measures to stay safeguard is difficult. But with smart technology like AI, a simple task as identifying people who aren’t wearing masks or violating the correct method of wearing it is now being done by AI’s deep learning technique with specific software being installed into the CCTV cameras to identify perpetrators among the crowd. Once identified, a quick notification is sent to the police headquarters with the consequent updates being sent to the patrol police to nab the wrongdoers.
Projection of cases and mortality
Normally making predictions and tracking the spread of infection is not possible by analyzing the data spread across verticals like — collected information, social media, and other media platforms. However, the deep learning technique of AI is helping in stepping over the vulnerabilities and the outcome of COVID across regions, people, and countries.
COVID 19 and X-rays
Chest X-rays are now being set as a standardized procedure to diagnose COVID-19 as Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) is not only time consuming but quite expensive. Conversely, a simple chest X-ray cannot help in distinguishing the extent of the disease infecting the lungs. Artificial Intelligence, in collaboration with Chest X-rays, helps in identifying the abnormal findings such as ground-glass opacities in the lungs, characteristic of COVID-19 disease thus becoming a blessing for patients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
Disease prevention
The nature and pattern of COVID make it difficult to anticipate what lies in the future. However, with the assistance of AI technology predictive and preventive healthcare has become a reality. We can now make predictions about the probable infection sites, the virus influx, number of beds, and healthcare professionals required along with the future virus and disease prevention by identifying the traits, causes, and reasons for the spread of infection. Being an inexhaustible tool, AI is by-and-by becoming a more mature and robust technology for the future fight against epidemics and pandemics.
Leveling Up the Fight…
AI has been addressing the limitation of human knowledge. It is known to process large amounts of data — called Big Data — and detect patterns in the data. As the driving force behind the curtains using techniques of machine learning or deep learning, artificial intelligence enables us to predict future outcomes as well as reveal other insights about the data.
COVID-19 has truly increased the workload of healthcare workers across each level. But AI can reduce that pressure significantly with early diagnosis, digital approaches, and decision science. AI along with the adoption of healthcare cloud technology and digital recordkeeping gives a stronghold to build and control access to digital health records anywhere, even while traveling or remotely from home. It just requires a necessary addition — a secure Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) like NordVPN, to the organization’s intranet to decrease unauthorized access and chances of data breaches. NordVPN review will show the benefits and features of this Next-generation encrypted VPN service.
In essence, AI is one of the quickest and easiest ways to track the spread of this virus, identify high-risk patients, and bring real-time virus control. Even though at present it hasn’t reached its perfect self, the future looks bright for AI technology.
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