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5th PROFUNEDU (ALPTK-PTM) 2020 IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1720 (2021) 012002 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1720/1/012002

Potential Applications of Big Data for Managing the COVID-

19 Pandemic

A R Pradana1, S R Madjid1, H J Prayitno2, R D Utami3, Y Dharmawan4

1
Bachelor Degree, Faculty of Public Health, Diponegoro University, Indonesia
2
Department of Indonesian Language and Literature Education, Faculty of Teacher
Training and Education, Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta, Indonesia
3
Department of Elementary School Teacher Education, Faculty of Teacher Training and
Education, Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta, Indonesia
4
Department of Biostatistics and Population Studies, Faculty of Public Health,
Diponegoro University, Indonesia

Corresponding email: atha.rifqia@gmail.com

Abstract. COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 is being global pandemic which the number of
positive confirmed cases and deaths increase massively and rapidly. Big data is a technology can
be used for analysing the trend pattern of coronavirus and prevent the spreading of it. Few
countries already use big data as a strategy in managing the ongoing of COVID-19 pandemic.
This research uses descriptive analytical research to describe the findings of previous research
information with a simplified approach. The aim of this research is knowing how big data used
for managing the outbreak of COVID-19 by detecting cases, predicting cases and tracking
contact through the use of various data characteristics in some countries around the world.
Several countries that have used big data to help manage COVID-19 pandemic are Taiwan,
China, Korea, Australia. Taiwan uses credit card and geographic route for tracking the routes of
tourists, China uses Baidu Maps Traffic Flow as local maps for knowing distribution of aircraft
passenger who have potential high risk to get infected by COVID-19, Korea uses insurance data
from Korean National Health Insurance Service for knowing the community with hypertension
history who have protentional high risk to get infected by COVID-19 and Australia uses
application COVIDSafe for handling the spreading by detecting ambient contact. The ongoing
of COVID-19 pandemic in the world has caused the big data technology to be considered to be
applied in a country so it hopes can reduce the negative impacts caused in several fields.

1. Introduction
In Wuhan, Province of Huebi, China, mysterious cases of pneumonia were discovered in December
2019, where the source of transmission is not known certainly. This case continues to increase rapidly
thus spread to other provinces in China. World Health Organization (WHO) then announced that
samples studied showed a new coronavirus etiology. The disease which was later named Coronavirus
Disease (COVID-19), was caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-
2) virus [1]. Etiology COVID-19 is a coronavirus that belongs to the genus Betacoronavirus. The results
suggested that intermediate reservoir of COVID-10 cases was pangolin [2,3]. Since the first case was
Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Any further distribution
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5th PROFUNEDU (ALPTK-PTM) 2020 IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1720 (2021) 012002 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1720/1/012002

found in Wuhan, COVID-19 confirmed cases have continued to increase and there have been cases of
spread to other countries, such as Thailand, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Canada, France [4].

Spreading of SARS-CoV-2 viruses occur widely through human-to-human transmission as the main
transmission. Transmission of this virus occurs through droplets that come out when humans cough or
sneeze. Research based on the results of biopsy on gastric, duodenal, and rectal epithelial cells prove
that SARS-CoV-2 can infect the gastrointestinal tract [5]. The existence of COVID-19 is proof that an
outbreak of COVID-19 is categorized as an unprecedented disaster. COVID-19 outbreak affected all
aspects, especially health, social, and economics throughout the world. There are 2 possible scenarios
that occur in both high or low income countries, where most countries are not ready to face the outbreak
[6]. Based on the WHO report as of 3 August 2020, it was reported that COVID-19 had infected
11,874,226 positive cases with 686,703 deaths worldwide [4,7]. Some developed countries already use
big data for handling the outbreak of COVID-19. They use big data to control the spreading of the virus.
Spreading of COVID-19 positive confirmed cases in the world as of 3 August 2020 can be seen in Figure
1.

Figure 1. Distribution of COVID-19 Cases by WHO Region (Update 3 August 2020)

Globally, number of positive confirmed cases and deaths due to COVID-19 continues to increase
massively and rapidly. The explosion of cases due to SARS-CoV-2 virus causes health data is a vital
thing to produce a source of information and knowledge. Data stored in various technologies can also
be used for research and development on viruses, pandemics, and steps that need to be taken with the
aim of fighting the existence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus [8]. Big data is a technology that has a role in
storing COVID-19 cases by utilizing different storage technologies. In addition, the existence of big
data can help the analysis so it can reveal trend patterns and help reveal insights about the spread and
control of viruses. The use of big data can significantly minimize the risk of spreading the virus because
of the ability of big data to capture data in detail [9].

In general, big data is a collection of large amounts of data related to computational resources to
overcome the increased volume and complexity of data from various sources. There are 3 big data
classifications, that is: 1) velocity (related to the speed in processing and manipulating data); 2) volume
(related to the amount of information available); 3) variety (related to the diversity of channels and the
number of sources in producing data) [9]. For this reason, as the one of epidemiological problems of
public health, big data has great potential in overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic [10]. Each country
has their respective strategies in handling data related to COVID-19 through big data. This research was
conducted to find out how the role of the application of big data in several countries in managing the
ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

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Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1720 (2021) 012002 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1720/1/012002

2. Big Data Precision in Managing COVID-19 Pandemic

To improve overall health of the population, technological advancements can encourage and allow for
more precise description and analysis of health problems [11]. In the health field, precision can work
because there are more accurate methods for measuring disease, pathogens, exposure and behavior. To
achieve precise disease treatment, various types of data such as genetic, lifestyle and environmental data
are needed so clinical care can be adjusted to the individual target [12]. The existence of big data
technology can be used to store information related to people infected with COVID-19 so the nature of
SARS-CoV-2 virus can be discovered in more detail. All types of cases due to COVID-19 can be stored
through the use of big data, including cases of infected, recovery and expired [8]. Big data is considered
as one of the technologies considered to be precise in overcoming the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic
[9,10]. The development of big data technology can be used in health care through Electronic Health
Records (EHR) to facilitate medical services. Handling of COVID-19 requires big data with reference
to COVID-19 patient data, such as doctor records, X-Ray reports, case histories, lists of doctors and
nurses and information about the area of the outbreak [13].

Subsequent is the characteristics of big data regarding volume, velocity and variety in overcoming
COVID-19.

2.1. Velocity
Velocity represents data creation level calculated in the time domain. Data generated in health care is
important to be generated and updated in real time so it has an optimal role in health monitoring and
diagnosis. Speed in updating data in epidemiological databases is needed to produce data about COVID-
19 in real time. This is needed by patients infected with COVID-19 in obtaining quarantine and medical
care in a timely manner [13].

2.2. Volume
Volume represents large data ranging from terabytes to exabytes [13]. Big data modeling supports
predictions of a future COVID-19 pandemic. This is due to the ability of big data to aggregate and store
large amounts of data so that early detection can be done quickly [14]. The large amount of data stored
causes investigations to be carried out on a large scale so maintenance can done with a high level of
reliability [15].

2.3. Variety
Variety represents the diversity and heterogeneity of data generated from health service users (doctors,
nurses, patients), medical IoT (Internet of Things) and health service organizations [13]. Data formats
can be in the form of text, images, or videos. Big data is able to combine various sources with AI
(Artificial Intelligent) analysis to understand the tracking of outbreaks, structures, viruses, treatment of
diseases and making vaccines in order to overcome COVID-19. Big data technology is able to develop
simulation models to estimate outbreaks so it helps an institution monitor the spread and develop better
preventive measures [16,17].

Application of big data in managing COVID-19 pandemic in significantly can be shown in Table 1. [8].

Table 1. Application of Big Data in the Various Characteristics

No Applications Definition
1 Identification of infected cases Big data is able to store medical record of COVID-19
patients completely because of the volume characteristics
that support the storage of large amounts of data. This helps
identify and analyse risks.
2 Travel history Big data helps store of human travel history because the
variety characteristics of various data formats making it easy
to do a risk analysis related to COVID-19.

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5th PROFUNEDU (ALPTK-PTM) 2020 IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1720 (2021) 012002 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1720/1/012002

3 Fever symptoms Big data helps store of patient symptoms due to variety,
volume and velocity characteristics so that COVID-19
patients can get timely and accurate treatment.
4 Virus identification at early Big data is able to help the analysis and identification of
stage humans who are expected to be affected by COVID-19 due
to the characteristics of the variety, where the analysis data
comes from various sources.
5 Identification and analysis of Big data is able to analyze fast moving diseases efficiently
fast moving diseases due to velocity characteristics so it helps in early detection
in a timely manner.
6 Lockdown information Big data is able to track and monitor human movements due
to variety and volume characteristics during the lockdown.
This is because big data technology is capable of storing
large amounts of data and from various sources to support
human tracking in large populations with high mobility.
7 Person entering or leaving Big data helps analyse and identify opportunities for viruses
infected area to infect humans in an area due to velocity characteristics.
COVID-19 transmission takes place quickly so big data
technology is needed to support epidemiological databases
in real time.
8 Development of medical Big data is able to provide a history of patient medication so
treatment more quickly patients get treatment as needed quickly. The characteristics
of big data velocity and variety help medical personnel in
providing accurate handling.

In handling the cases of COVID-19, big data has many meaningful benefits in many sectors such as
medical sector and tourism sector. Those, help the performance of doctors and medical staffs handling
the patients also the government to make right decisions and movements.

3. Methods
To find out problems in this research, literature review from various previous studies is a method that
can be done. This research uses descriptive analytical research to describe the findings of previous
research information with a simplified approach. Searching for articles on the internet is done through
databases and gray literature using Boolean Operators "AND" and "OR", where journal databases as
library sources are Google Scholar, Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, CrossRed, PROQUEST.

The combination of keywords in the article search are as follows:

a. To identify the role of big data in managing COVID-19 pandemic, the keywords used are: "role",
"function", "big data", "managing", "COVID-19", "public health".
b. To identify the application of big data in managing COVID-19 pandemics in various countries, the
keywords used are: "application", "effective", "potential", "big data", "managing", "COVID-19",
"precision", "epidemic", "epidemiology", "health intervention", "health risk", "pandemic",
"surveillance", "tracking", "population health", "outcomes", "case detection".

The article search results will then be evaluated and extracted to identify the appropriate article. After
that, analysis and interpretation of the results according to the search results of the articles that have
been selected. The data obtained will be collected and analyzed in the form of narrative texts to facilitate
drawing conclusions.

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Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1720 (2021) 012002 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1720/1/012002

4. Findings and Results

CHARACTERISTICS ROLES APPLICATIONS

•Identification of •Case Detection •Credit card

infected cases •Case Prediction •Geographic route
•Travel history •Contact Tracking •Baidu maps
•Fever symptoms •Korean National
•Virus identification Health Insurance
•Identification and Service
analysis •COVIDSafe App
•Lockdown
information
•Person entering or
leaving
•Medical treatment

Figure 2. Illustration of Big Data in Managing COVID-19 Pandemic

4.1. Big Data Role

4.1.1. Case Detection

Management of handling COVID-19 utilizes big data because it plays a role in detecting new cases that
are suspected or confirmed. Case detection utilizes clinical symptoms found in person, such as coughing,
pneumonia and fever. Proper data analysis can result in a geographic spread of the COVID-19 pandemic
[18]. Spatial analysis can be carried out on three scales, that is individuals, groups and regions so it can
be compared between scales to determine spatial risk, medical needs and transportation capacity at each
scale. With spatial detection, it is hoped to prevent the sudden occurrence of a COVID-19 pandemic that
have an impact on the economic, educational, etc [19].

4.1.2. Case Prediction

Management of handling COVID-19 utilizes big data because it plays a role in detecting new cases that
are suspected or confirmed The role of big data in managing the COVID-19 pandemic is through
prediction of cases number so handling of patients on health infrastructure can be done more optimally,
such as providing bed and ventilators for patients [18]. Prediction was carried out by utilizing a time-
series model to know the number of infected cases and time point when COVID-19 spread on its peak
[20]. Prediction of epidemiological models of the COVID-19 pandemic was carried out with Machine
Learning (ML) and cloud computing. This helps in knowing the severity of COVID-19 spread in all
regions of the world [21].

4.1.3. Contact Tracing

In managing the COVID-19 pandemic problem, big data is technology needed to assist in the handling
of a pandemic through the use of different data sources. Tracking people through big data uses various
meta-data and tags used on social media, passenger lists, credit cards and others [18]. Proper data
analysis can provide model tracking to all person including person who do not use assistive technology
such as mobile phones so that the transmission rate of COVID-19 infections can be estimated. Research
by Keeling et al. said that use of big data can identify and track contacts that occur more than 1 hour
and recur [22]. In public health, contact tracing is a central response to infectious disease outbreaks,
including the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in the early stages where treatment is still limited.
Through a public health surveillance system, the big data is able to guarantee the availability of

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5th PROFUNEDU (ALPTK-PTM) 2020 IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1720 (2021) 012002 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1720/1/012002

information about disease transmission and slaughter in real time, where the data architecture needs to
be considered to produce an effective outbreak determination [9,23]. Contact tracing will also help to
recognize the structure of the virus and prompt treatment for sufferers [13].

4.2. Big Data Applications

Big data applications in each of these countries certainly have both advantages and disadvantages with
different usage of the mechanisms can be shown in Table 2.

Table 2. Application of Big Data in Various Countries

Digital Impact of Application
NO Country Function
Technology Advantages Disadvanteges
1 Taiwan Tracking of Geographic Find out tourist travel Can not detect:
[24] tourist travel Route on mobile routes so the a. Tourist travel
routes phone mitigation can be routes using taxis
done through sending or travel agents
messages of appeals b. Time of tourist
to conduct self visit at a place
quarantine and self
monitoring

Tracking of Credit card Detect shopping Can not detect tourists

tourist locations visited by traces who do not use
locations tourists with obvious credit card
through and real time
shopping information
track record

2 China Knowing the Baidu Maps Cities in China can Availability of data is
[25] distribution Traffic Flow carry out prevention limited (30
of aircraft efforts immediately December-26 January
passengers 2020)
during
December
2019-
January
2020 who
have
potential
high risk of
suffering
COVID-19

3 Republic Knowing the Korean Decrease the Case Coverage of data is

of Korea community National Health Fatality Rate (CFR) limited so it can not
[26] with Insurance of COVID-19 detect asymptomatic
hypertension Service patients with people in the
history who (KNHIS) hypertention history community
have
potential
high risk to
get infected

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Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1720 (2021) 012002 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1720/1/012002

by COVID-
19

4 Australia Inhibiting COVIDSafe Community can take The level of coverage

[27] the spread of App Mobile preventative and and detection is not
COVID-19 Phone directive steps to self- optimal (application is
transmission quarantine not downloaded by all
by detecting immediately people in the
ambient community)
contact

As the table above we can conclude that some countries already develop the uses of big data for handling
the spreading of COVID-19. They transform the big data in applications or reports to make decisions.
Certainly, they make it with big consideration to make sure their citizens safe. Besides, it also used for
keeping country financial from the recession by allowing the tourism keep going with the health
protocols still being implemented.

5. Conclusion and Recommendations

In this study, results of the review show that big data is one of the technologies that can be used to
manage COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. Application of big data utilizes a variety of data
characteristics to determine case detection, case prediction and contact tracking. Some countries have
successfully handled the COVID-19 pandemic in their countries due to the application of big data
technology in their countries, such as through the use of applications on mobile phones and credit cards.
In spite of these utilizations of big data in handling COVID-19 only in the level of precision and not in
the validation aspect, managing COVID-19 using big data become technology that can be considered.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in the world has caused the big data technology to be considered to
be applied in a country so it hopes to reduce the negative impacts caused in several fields, such as
education and economy because of this pandemic.

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