scholarly journals A Review of Contact Tracing Approaches for Controlling COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
pp. 31-38
Author(s):  
Md. Tanvir Rahman ◽  
Taslima Ferdaus Shuva ◽  
Risala Tasin Khan ◽  
Mostofa Kamal Nasir
Keyword(s):  
System Architecture ◽  
Data Privacy ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Attribute Data ◽  
Work From Home ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
Close Contacts

The year 2020 will always be in the history of mankind due to the deadly outbreak of COVID-19. Many people are already infected around the world due to the spreading of this novel coronavirus. The virus mainly replicates through close contacts, so there are no other alternatives than to keep social distance, use proper safety gear, and maintain self-quarantine. As a result, the growth of the virus has changed the lifestyle of every individual to a great extent. It is also compelling the Governments to dictate strict lock-downs of the highly affected areas, impose work-from-home approaches where applicable, enforce strict social distancing standards, and so on. Some of the countries are also using smartphone-based applications for contact tracing to track the possibly infected individuals. However, there is a lot of discussion around the world about these contact tracing applications and also about their architecture, attribute, data privacy, and so on. In this paper, we have provided a comprehensive review of these contact tracing approaches in terms of their system architecture, key attributes, and data privacy. We have also outlined a list of potential research directions that can improvise the tracing performance while maintaining the privacy of the user to a great extent.

scholarly journals Exploring the role and mechanism of COVID-19 apps in fighting the current pandemic

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Karthikeyan P. Iyengar ◽  
Rachit Jain ◽  
David Ananth Samy ◽  
Vijay Kumar Jain ◽  
Raju Vaishya ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Data Privacy ◽  
Viral Transmission ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Test Track ◽  
The World ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
And Control ◽  
Second Wave ◽  
Transmission Test

As COVID-19 pandemic spread worldwide, policies have been developed to contain the disease and prevent viral transmission. One of the key strategies has been the principle of “‘test, track, and trace” to minimize spread of the virus. Numerous COVID-19 contact tracing applications have been rolled around the world to monitor and control the spread of the disease. We explore the characteristics of various COVID-19 applications and especially the Aarogya Setu COVID-19 app from India in its role in fighting the current pandemic. We assessed the current literature available to us using conventional search engines, including but not limited to PubMed, Google Scholar, and Research Gate in May 2020 till the time of submission of this article. The search criteria used MeSH keywords such as “COVID-19,” “pandemics,” “contact tracing,” and “mobile applications.” A variable uptake of different COVID-19 applications has been noted with increasing enrolment around the world. Security concerns about data privacy remain. The various COVID-19 applications will complement manual contact tracing system to assess and prevent viral transmission. Test, track, trace, and support policy will play a key role in avoidance of a “second wave” of the novel coronavirus severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 outbreak.

Face masks are an essential tool to mitigate the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: a call to action

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 157-159
Author(s):  
P. Dehgani-Mobaraki ◽  
A. Kamber Zaidi ◽  
J.M. Levy ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Upper Airway ◽  
World Health ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Call To Action ◽  
Public Health Emergencies ◽  
Current Spread ◽  
The World ◽  
Health And Disease ◽  
Novel Coronavirus

Over the past several months, an increasing volume of infor- mation has expanded awareness regarding the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus associated with COVID-19. Following the pandemic declaration by the World Health Orga- nization (WHO), global authorities immediately took measures to reduce the transmission and subsequent morbidity associa- ted with this highly contagious disease. However, despite initial success in “flattening the curve” of viral transmission, many areas of the world are currently experiencing an increase in com- munity transmission, threatening to replicate the early public health emergencies experienced by Italy (1,2). In addition, the possibility of contact tracing through geosocial applications and public service platforms have been met with variable interest (3). Given current spread and the upcoming influenza season, it is essential that we use our voices as experts in upper airway health and disease to educate and encourage all communities to adopt appropriate protective measures, including the routine use of facemasks.

scholarly journals Using COVID-19 Pandemic as an Opportunities for Technology Usage Inspiration and Innovation for African Countries

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 357-365
Keyword(s):  
New Technologies ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Work From Home ◽  
The World ◽  
Risk Patients ◽  
History Of ◽  
To Come ◽  
Work Education

In developing nations, and on the African continent in particular, the uptake and impact of technological and other developments is often slower than in other parts of the world. While pockets of development exist on the continent as a source of work, education and access much of Africa remains trapped in a cycle of poverty.In this worldwide health crisis, the medical industry is looking for new technologies to monitor and controls the spread of COVID19 (Coronavirus) pandemic. AI is one of such technology which can easily track the spread of this virus, identifies the high-risk patients, and is useful in controlling this infection in real-time. Educators have created online classrooms in a matter of days. Information resources to educate the public and track the spread of the virus using big data sprang up seemingly overnight. Finally, those of us fortunate enough to have jobs that allow us to work from home are learning the full potential of the communication technologies that the 21stcentury has bestowed upon us. None of these tasks have been easy, but individuals and organizations have demonstrated the motivation and mind shifts needed to research, innovate, and act quickly.AI embodies the field of knowledge that seeks to create machines (computers) thatcan emulate human cognitive functions such as learning, reasoning, understanding, vision, perception, recognition, and problem solving to a reasonable level. Computers that have AI capabilities are currently being used in severalreal-worlddomains to solve problems. AI has already played a significant role in each stage of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. Some areas where we saw immediate applications include the processing of large amounts of data to find patterns that could lead to the discovery of potential treatment drugs; as well astreating infected people.The novel aspect of this pandemic involves several unknowns and is likely to have a lingering impact for years to come. However, despite the current climate, I am somewhat comforted that the history of past pandemics and crises suggests an eventual recovery plan for the world. After all, necessity is the mother of all invention. New creations arise out of disruption.

scholarly journals Did COVID-19 Lockdown Brew “Amphan” into a Super Cyclone?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Velu Vinoj ◽  
Debadatta Swain
Keyword(s):  
West Bengal ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Wind Speeds ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
Super Cyclone ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Joint Typhoon Warning Center

The world witnessed one of the largest lockdowns in the history of mankind ever, spread over months in an attempt to contain the contact spreading of the novel coronavirus induced COVID-19. As billions around the world stood witness to the staggered lockdown measures, a storm brewed up in the urns of the rather hot Bay of Bengal (BoB) in the Indian Ocean realm. When Thailand proposed the name “Amphan” (pronounced as “Um-pun” meaning ‘the sky’), way back in 2004, little did they realize that it was the christening of the 1st super cyclone (Category-5 hurricane) of the century in this region and the strongest on the globe this year. At the peak, Amphan clocked wind speeds of 168 mph (Joint Typhoon Warning Center) with the pressure drop to 925 h.Pa. What started as a depression in the southeast BoB at 00 UTC on 16th May 2020 developed into a Super Cyclone in less than 48 hours and finally made landfall in the evening hours of 20th May 2020 through the Sundarbans between West Bengal and Bangladesh. Did the impact of the COVID-19 induced lockdown drive an otherwise typical pre-monsoon tropical depression into a super cyclone?

scholarly journals Multi-grade fuzzy assessment framework for software professionals in work-from-home mode during and post-COVID-19 era

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Suresh ◽  
Kavya Gopakumar
Keyword(s):  
Efficiency Index ◽  
Assessment Framework ◽  
Work From Home ◽  
The World ◽  
Software Professionals ◽  
Unique Framework ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
Fuzzy Assessment ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Efficiency And Productivity

AbstractThe pandemic novel Coronavirus disease and the resulting lockdowns have contributed to major economic disturbances around the world, forcing organisations to extend the work-from-home (WFH) option to their employees wherever feasible. The current major challenge of this option is maintaining the efficiency and productivity of the employees across the organisations. It is therefore important to understand the impact of this make-shift arrangement of WFH policy and their underlying effects that may affect the efficiency of employees and hence their output levels. This is a distinctive approach to develop a unique framework for efficiency index computation by evaluating the efficiency levels of WFH mode in software organisations using multi-grade fuzzy approach and importance–performance analysis. In turn, this would help to determine the crucial attributes that require improvement to increase the efficiency levels of employees concerned. In this study, a case project has been assessed and it was observed that the efficiency index of WFH accounts to 4.92, which is in between the range of (4.01–6) specified as ‘Efficient’. The framework can be used on a periodic basis to help software organisations to continuously improve their WFH efficiency level.

COVID-19 PANDEMIC-FUTURE OF WORK AND WORKING FROM HOME PHILOSOPHY

2020 ◽  
pp. 28-37
Author(s):  
Usung Isaac Akpan
Keyword(s):  
Service Providers ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Work From Home ◽  
Working From Home ◽  
The World ◽  
Social Partners ◽  
Work Routine ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
Distance Working

Following the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-2019) pandemic, both public and private sectors have put in place a number of measures, including those affecting workplaces, to fight the spread of the disease. The world of work is severely affected during this crisis, therefore, all sections of society including businesses, employers and social partners must play a role in order to protect workers, their families and society at large. The nature and extent of the restrictions and lockdown milestones, such as on suspension of non-essential activities, differ between service providers and different sectors , but a substantial proportion of workers either have to work from home, or if their work cannot be performed at a distance, they stay at home often under an income replacement arrangement. Drawing from this experience, various organisations have decided to restructure their workforce work routine which necessitate my curiosity to ponder and its application in the Nigerian context as it affects working from home philosophy. KEYWORDS: pandemic, employees, social distance, working from home, corona virus, workforce.

An unfolding crisis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dr Simon Hudson
Keyword(s):  
The Novel ◽  
Virus Spread ◽  
Defining Moment ◽  
Travel And Tourism ◽  
Tourism Sector ◽  
International Tourist ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Travel Industry ◽  
Novel Coronavirus

The travel industry worldwide has been dealt a vicious blow. It is forecast that the number of international tourist arrivals will fall by 60-80%% in 2020 due to the novel coronavirus, putting millions of jobs at risk (Alpert & Beilfuss, 2020; UNTWO, 2020). The drop in arrivals will lead to an estimated loss of $300-450 billion in international tourism receipts (The Economic Times, 2020). The industry will recover, but travel will never be the same again, and the year 2020 will be a defining moment in the history of the tourism sector. But how did this crisis unfold and start to impact travel? This chapter will track the period between the first signs of the virus at the end of 2019 to the beginning of April 2020, showing how as the virus spread, so too did its impact on the travel and tourism around the world.

Nanotechnology-Based Approaches and Investigational Therapeutics against COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Md. Mominur Rahman ◽  
Muniruddin Ahmed ◽  
Mohammad Touhidul Islam ◽  
Md. Robin Khan ◽  
Sharifa Sultana ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
Social Isolation ◽  
Healthcare Professionals ◽  
Pivotal Role ◽  
Specific Drug ◽  
Work From Home ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Preventive Actions ◽  
The World ◽  
Novel Coronavirus

: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a novel coronavirus which is currently responsible for the global pandemic since December 2019. This class of coronavirus has affected 217 countries around the world. Most of the countries have taken some non-remedial preventive actions like country lockdown, work from home, travel bans, and the most significant one is social isolation. Pharmacists, doctors, nurses, technologists, and all other healthcare professionals are playing a pivotal role during this pandemic. Unluckily, there is no specific drug that can treat patients who are confirmed with COVID-19, though favipiravir and remdesivir have appeared as favorable antiviral drugs. Some vaccines have already developed, and vaccination has started worldwide. Different nanotechnologies are in the developing stage in many countries for preventing SARS-COV-2 and treating COVID-19 conditions. In this article, we review the COVID-19 pandemic situation as well as the nanotechnology-based approaches and investigational therapeutics against COVID-19.

scholarly journals IOT IN THE WAKE OF COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol XLVI-4/W5-2021 ◽  
pp. 103-107
Author(s):  
K. Belasri ◽  
T. Mazri
Keyword(s):  
Quality Care ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
World Health ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
High Quality ◽  
The World ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
The Internet Of Things ◽  
Shed Light

Abstract. Healthcare is an imperative portion of life. Tragically, the exceptional outbreak of the 2019 novel coronavirus, named as COVID-19 by the World Health Organization (WHO), has strained the largest part of health systems and the request for resources from hospital packs to specialists and nurses have become extremely high. However, With the rise of the Internet of Things, new services in healthcare will be accessible and existing systems will be coordinated within the IoT system, giving automated medical supervision and efficient medical treatment, it is evident that a solution is necessary and required to promote the health sector in the era of Covid-19 pandemic whereas proceeding to supply a high-quality care to patients. In this article, we shed light on a few of the issues and challenges related to the appropriation of portable contact tracing and monitoring of patients’ arrangements for fighting COVID-19.

scholarly journals Not Virtual Enough: A Virtual Library’s Challenges During the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Nicole Askin ◽  
Maureen Babb ◽  
Pamela Darling ◽  
Orvie Dingwall ◽  
Lenore Finlay ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Smooth Transition ◽  
World Health ◽  
Virtual Library ◽  
Work From Home ◽  
The World ◽  
Unique Experience ◽  
Winnipeg Regional Health Authority ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
The University

As part of the University of Manitoba Libraries Outreach Services, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (WRHA) Virtual Library provides library services to hospitals, health centres, community health agencies, and personal care homes throughout the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba. All services of the WRHA Virtual Library, including the collection, are entirely virtual, though staff are physically located in the University’s health library.  In March 2020, shortly after the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, libraries around the world started closing their doors and staff were required to work from home.  The virtual infrastructure of our services and collections required no changes in how our patrons accessed the Virtual Library and a smooth transition was expected, but the sudden shift to working from home revealed gaps. This article discusses the unique experience of the WRHA Virtual Library transitioning to a completely virtual environment, the previous reliance on the University’s physical infrastructure, and the inequities identified between librarians and library technicians.

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