Digital technologies in the public-health response to COVID-19

Jobie Budd^{1

2}, Benjamin S Miller¹, Erin M Manning¹, Vasileios Lampos³, Mengdie Zhuang⁴, Michael Edelstein⁵, Geraint Rees⁶, Vincent C Emery⁷, Molly M Stevens⁸, Neil Keegan⁹, Michael J Short¹⁰, Deenan Pillay¹¹, Ed Manley¹², Ingemar J Cox^{3

13}, David Heymann¹⁴, Anne M Johnson¹⁵, Rachel A McKendry^{16

17}

Affiliations

¹ London Centre for Nanotechnology, University College London, London, UK.
² Division of Medicine, University College London, London, UK.
³ Department of Computer Science, University College London, London, UK.
⁴ The Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, University College London, London, UK.
⁵ Centre on Global Security, Chatham House, London, UK.
⁶ Faculty of Life Sciences, University College London, London, UK.
⁷ Department of Microbial Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK.
⁸ Department of Materials and Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London, London, UK.
⁹ Translational and Clinical Research Institute, Newcastle University, Newcastle, UK.
¹⁰ Department for International Trade, University College London, London, UK.
¹¹ Division of Infection and Immunity, University College London, London, UK.
¹² School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
¹³ Department of Computer Science, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
¹⁴ London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
¹⁵ Institute of Global Health, University College London, London, UK.
¹⁶ London Centre for Nanotechnology, University College London, London, UK. r.a.mckendry@ucl.ac.uk.
¹⁷ Division of Medicine, University College London, London, UK. r.a.mckendry@ucl.ac.uk.

PMID: 32770165
DOI: 10.1038/s41591-020-1011-4

Review

Digital technologies in the public-health response to COVID-19

Jobie Budd et al. Nat Med. 2020 Aug.

. 2020 Aug;26(8):1183-1192.

doi: 10.1038/s41591-020-1011-4. Epub 2020 Aug 7.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ London Centre for Nanotechnology, University College London, London, UK.
² Division of Medicine, University College London, London, UK.
³ Department of Computer Science, University College London, London, UK.
⁴ The Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, University College London, London, UK.
⁵ Centre on Global Security, Chatham House, London, UK.
⁶ Faculty of Life Sciences, University College London, London, UK.
⁷ Department of Microbial Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK.
⁸ Department of Materials and Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London, London, UK.
⁹ Translational and Clinical Research Institute, Newcastle University, Newcastle, UK.
¹⁰ Department for International Trade, University College London, London, UK.
¹¹ Division of Infection and Immunity, University College London, London, UK.
¹² School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
¹³ Department of Computer Science, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
¹⁴ London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
¹⁵ Institute of Global Health, University College London, London, UK.
¹⁶ London Centre for Nanotechnology, University College London, London, UK. r.a.mckendry@ucl.ac.uk.
¹⁷ Division of Medicine, University College London, London, UK. r.a.mckendry@ucl.ac.uk.

PMID: 32770165
DOI: 10.1038/s41591-020-1011-4

Abstract

Digital technologies are being harnessed to support the public-health response to COVID-19 worldwide, including population surveillance, case identification, contact tracing and evaluation of interventions on the basis of mobility data and communication with the public. These rapid responses leverage billions of mobile phones, large online datasets, connected devices, relatively low-cost computing resources and advances in machine learning and natural language processing. This Review aims to capture the breadth of digital innovations for the public-health response to COVID-19 worldwide and their limitations, and barriers to their implementation, including legal, ethical and privacy barriers, as well as organizational and workforce barriers. The future of public health is likely to become increasingly digital, and we review the need for the alignment of international strategies for the regulation, evaluation and use of digital technologies to strengthen pandemic management, and future preparedness for COVID-19 and other infectious diseases.

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References

1. Wu, F. et al. A new coronavirus associated with human respiratory disease in China. Nature 579, 265–269 (2020). - DOI
1. Zhu, N. et al. A novel coronavirus from patients with pneumonia in China, 2019. N. Engl. J. Med. 382, 727–733 (2020). - PubMed - PMC
1. World Health Organization. Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Situation Reports Report no. 160 https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/2... (2020).
1. Hopman, J., Allegranzi, B. & Mehtar, S. Managing COVID-19 in low- and middle-income countries. J. Am. Med. Assoc. 323, 1549 (2020).
1. Lloyd-Sherlock, P., Ebrahim, S., Geffen, L. & McKee, M. Bearing the brunt of covid-19: older people in low and middle income countries. Br. Med. J. 368, m1052 (2020).

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Digital technologies in the public-health response to COVID-19

Affiliations

Digital technologies in the public-health response to COVID-19

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

References

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MeSH terms

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

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