By Yu Sinan, Jiang Nan, People’s Daily
Scientific innovation is lending a powerful hand to China’s epidemic prevention and control efforts when the country is making everything it can to defeat the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
In recent days, a color-coded QR system has been launched in Hangzhou, east China’s Zhejiang Province which gives citizens colored QR codes indicating their health conditions. A green code shows the user is not infected and can move around the city freely, while those with yellow and red onesare requested to be quarantined.
The codes are generated through big data analysis after users submit applications on their mobile phones. Now in Hangzhou, the code is an essential for citizens to board subway trains, go to supermarkets and enter office buildings.
The system was firstly introduced by Hangzhou’s Yuhang district on Feb. 9, and promoted citywide two days later. On Feb. 16, theE-government office of the General Office of the State Council started guiding the development of a unified national health code system, and the codes were applied in all 11 cities with subordinate districts in Hangzhou the next day, and soon promoted in other provinces including Sichuan and Hainan.
A total of 8.62 million health codes had been distributed in Hangzhou as of 9:00 a.m., Feb. 18, and over 15 million citizens in Zhejiang Province have applied for the codes in just a very short period of time.
The digital solution is designed to replace the original “paper pass” – various kinds of forms that citizens had to fill before entering residential complexes and other congregated places amid the epidemic. It saves considerable human and material resources, and helps lower the social cost in fighting the epidemic. Besides, the codes refresh regularly according to dynamic data, which enables administrators of cities to get the whole picture of the epidemic situation and thus improving targeted management and precise control.
Technologies are applied to not only prevent and control the epidemic, but also save the patients. Diagnosis systems aided by medical images have reduced the time of evaluation from hours to seconds, largely lowering the risk of infection for medical staff. The remote medical consultation powered by 5G is also seamlessly connecting experts from metropolises and major hospitals with those in remote regions. Besides, artificial intelligence (AI) is applied to sequence the virus genome and develop new drugs throughoptimization algorithm, helping scientific institutions to find the optimized solutions.
Technologies are contributing to China’s resumption of work as well. Cloud computing is making telecommuting possible; e-government services are powered by virtual service specialists; blockchain helps achieve unimpeded logistics and capital flow; and disinfecting robots are ensuring production and operation safety.
The new generation of information technologies have offered more targeted, convenient and effective approaches in coping with the epidemic, building a smart wall of defense and showcasing the strength of science.
China is transforming into an intelligent society. Currently, the new generation of information technologies such as AI and 5G are powering the smart lifestyles of the people, and also contributing a major part to the country’s high-quality economic development and industrial upgrading.
In the fight against the COVID-19, technologies are emerging and explaining their potential. Apart from propelling the expansion of new business models including unmanned retailing, virtual social interaction and online education, they have also demonstrated their potential in smart city construction, remote medical services and industrial internet. These technologies employed to fight the epidemic are both building a line of defense and establishing a frontier for innovation.
Though the epidemic might bring short-term impacts on industries, the steps of technological innovation will continue. The sound momentum for the development of emerging technologies remains unchanged, and so do people’s aspiration for a smart life and the demand for industrial upgrading.
These new technologies, evolving with innovation in the race against the epidemic, will definitely integrate deeper into people’s life and production, and release stronger energy.
