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The Impact Of Digital Technology On Human Life During COVID-19

A Project Submitted to
University of Mumbai for partial completion of the degree of
Master in Commerce
Under the faculty of commerce

By
Priyanka Mishra

Under the Guidance of

Dr. Saumitra Sawant

Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics, B-

Road, Churchgate, Mumbai : 400 020

October 2022

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 Index
Chapter No. Title Page No.
1. Introduction 7-31
1. Origin and Development
2. Concept
3. Significance & Importance
4. Theories
5. Government Guidelines
6. Status with reference to India
7. Status with reference to world
8. Drawbacks
2 Literature Review 32-56
1. Thesis
2. Dissertation
3. Article
3 Research Methodology
1. Six Good Reasons Why the Internet Is Good
2. Important Services Provided by the Internet
3. The Advantages of Electronic Communication Devices
4. What Kind of Jobs Do Robots Do?
5. What Are the Benefits of Computers in Society?
6. Is it Illegal to Access Someone's Facebook Account?

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 Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics, B- Road, Churchgate,

Mumbai : 400 020

Certificate
This is to certify that Ms/Mr has worked and duly completed her/his Project Work for the degree
of Master in Commerce Under the Faculty of Commerce in the subject of __________________
___________________________ and his/her project is entitled, “ The Impact Of Digital
Technology On Human Life During COVID-19" under my supervision.
I further certify that the entire work has been done by the learner under my guidance and that no
part of it has been submitted previously for any Degree or Diploma of any University.
It is her/his own work and facts reported by her/his personal findings and investigations.

Name and Signature of

Guiding teacher

Date of Submission:

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 Declaration by Learner

I the undersigned Miss / Mr. Priyanka Mishra here by, declare that the work embodied in this
project work titled “The Impact Of Digital Technology On Human Life During COVID-19"
forms my own contribution to the research work carried out under the guidance of Dr. Saumitra
Sawant is a result of my own research work and has not been previously submitted to any other
University for any other Degree/ Diploma to this or any other University.

Wherever reference has been made to previous works of others, it has been clearly indicated as
such and included in the bibliography.

I, here by further declare that all information of this document has been obtained and presented
in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct.

Name and Signature of the Larmer

Certified by

Name and signature of the Guiding Teacher

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 Acknowledgement

To list who all have helped me is difficult because they are so numerous and the dept is so
enormous.
I would like to acknowledge the following as being idealistic channels and fresh dimensions in
the completion of this project.
I take this opportunity to thank the University of Mumbai for giving me the chance to do this
project.
I would like to thank my Principal, Dr. Madhuri Kagalkar for providing the necessary
facilities required for completion of this project.
I take this opportunity to thank our Coordinator for her moral support and
guidance.
I would also like to express my sincere gratitude towards my project guide whose
guidance and care made the project successful.
I would like to thank my College Library, for having provided various reference books and
magazines related to my project.
Lastly, I would also like thank each and every person who directly or indirectly helped me in the
completion of the project especially my Parents and Peers who supported me throughout my
project.

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 The Impact Of Digital Technology On Human Life During COVID-19

Introduction
Digital technology and its increasing prevalence have impacted human life radically in the last
few decades. From the advent of the digital society, spawned by the invention of the computer
and ENIAC, one of the first digital computers in 1946, to the present day, digital technology and
computing have worked their way into more areas of life, from communications to finance to
social interaction. You can see the impact daily in homes, schools and offices.
Internet: The Internet has brought an almost infinite amount of information right into your home
and workplace. Increasingly, this information is also available to you while you are on the road
as well. As a result, you have access to massive amounts of human knowledge in the time it takes
to download a web page. Many jobs that were once only possible with access to research
libraries or other institutions can be done now from your home, or anywhere. A company's work
force has become dispersed as satellite offices can operate as if they were all centrally located.
The digital technology has also created new opportunities for remote employment. These
workplace changes are restructuring the face of the workforce and the possibilities for how
individual lives are structured as well. There have been correspondingly great changes in retail,
banking and other industries.
Communication: The ability to compress millions of transistors onto a chip the size of a
fingernail has allowed the advent of portable cellular communications. Cell phones, not so long
ago a luxury, are now ubiquitous, and some people use them to the exclusion of traditional land-
line telephones. This makes cell phone users universally available and brings enormous
communications capacity right to your pocket or purse. With it comes real or implied
expectations of universal availability. It is now sometimes impossible really to get away from
work, as cell phones and BlackBerrys with email capacity are functional almost anywhere on the
globe. As a result, these digital communications tools make workers more productive, but they
also make the employee more connected to the place of work. Work hours have increased as
technological breakthroughs that were meant to save time keep many working harder and longer.
Social: Social networking, using applications such as MySpace and Facebook, can put people in
touch with each other in ways that could not have been imaged prior to digital technology. The
speed and reach of contacts you can make and maintain means that everyone is findable and
reachable with a quick search engine query and an email. This means you can keep up with
friends that live half a globe away with ease and also means being contacted by persons you
thought you might never see again.

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1.1 Origin & Development
Many of us were already using our phones for the majority of our waking hours, but during the
current shelter-in-place-measures, digital technology has become more important than ever.
Now that we are unable to engage in face-to-face contact, remote communication through our
personal digital devices, such as our smartphones, is essential for staying connected with friends,
family and co-workers.
I would like to highlight three other ways that our digital devices could have a tremendous
influence during this pandemic, but also discuss the challenges and the important role of data
science herein.
1. Mental health apps might help to decrease anxiety and stress
The widespread media coverage on COVID-19, combined with social distancing measures, can
make us feel anxious and stressed. There are smartphone apps backed up by research that can
help people to cope with this difficult time. Therefore, it is critical that we take advantage of the
digital tools at our disposal.
Multiple meditation and wellness apps designed by the private sector have now opened up free
memberships to aid in easing anxiety. One example is Headspace, which has recently provided a
collection of meditation and mindfulness content, specifically for COVID-19. You can find some
more examples in various websites
One caveat of these health and wellness apps is that many people download them, but most use
them only for a short period of time. This may be because many apps are not personalized and
engaging enough, leading to their users quickly losing interest. We may be able to use data
science to improve these apps. For example, machine learning algorithms can deploy user data to
create recommendation engines that predict user behavior and optimize the content of these
apps.This is a great challenge in mobile health that needs significant work, but has tremendous
potential.

2. Apps can allow us to track COVID-19 symptoms and other measures of health

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Multiple governments, universities and companies have ferociously been working on apps that
allow people to track their COVID-19 symptoms and other health information, and receive
updates on who in their surroundings has contracted the virus. For example a COVID symptom
tracker has already been downloaded by 75,000 people in the UK, and was made available in the
US recently. This will eventually give researchers a gigantic dataset, to assess why COVID-19
symptoms vary so widely across people, and potentially identify where outbreaks are starting.
Further, scientists at the University of Oxford have rolled out an app that allows people to trace
who they have been in contact with, and warns people if any of their contacts has been tested
positive for the corona virus so that they can decide to self-isolate.
Because smartphones save information about a user's location through their GPS history, many
have argued that the widespread use of smartphones provides a unique opportunity for more
effective contact tracing. In the U.S., the government is discussing the possibility of using GPS
and movement data from Americans’ smartphones with the help of big tech companies to combat
the coronavirus.
However, the use of these apps is not without significant risks: critics say that this could lead to
increased government surveillance even after the pandemic is over, at the cost of the public’s
privacy. Ideally, this data should be encrypted and not be shared with third parties, but questions
have been raised by privacy experts on how governments save and use this data. Thus, there is an
important need for dialogue about the ethics of contact tracing by smartphones, and there is a
crucial role for cybersecurity experts to weigh-in during this pandemic. Finally, for these apps to
be effective in the first place, enough people need to use them.
3. Mobile apps could help to distribute reliable information
Recently, in the United Kingdom, the National Health Service (NHS; the publicly funded
healthcare system) started working with tech companies to provide the public with accurate
information about COVID-19. Further, Singapore has been utilizing websites and social
messaging platforms on a daily basis to keep the population informed and advised about what to
do to reduce the risk of infection. Similarly, doctors and health institutions could make use of
social media and text-messaging to provide accurate information to their patients and the public.
However, social media platforms are notorious for spreading misinformation and ‘fake news’.
Large social media platforms are reportedly taking steps to remove false content or conspiracy
theories about the pandemic using artificial intelligence, and distribute reliable information, such
as developed by the World Health Organization. However, because of the overload of
information on social media, that misinformation might spread too fast for these algorithms.
After all, false news may spread more rapidly than factual information on social media
platforms.
In conclusion, our personal digital devices, combined with rigorous data science, are of crucial
importance during this COVID-19 pandemic. Though potentially revolutionary, the way that
digital technology can be used during this pandemic also comes with many challenges and risks.
Thus, we must be critical and think about how we can ensure that this technology will truly
benefit our society in this time of crisis.

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1.2 Concept
It is no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic has radically impacted our daily lives. Even as
certain public safety restrictions begin to be lifted, it is clear that our psychological relationship
to work, socializing, space, and so much more has fundamentally shifted through the trauma we
have shared. With ongoing social distancing measures in place, our ‘normal’ ways of socializing
and working have changed considerably, most notably replacing in-person interaction with
virtual interaction.
As the initial shock of being forced to work from home and telecommute on a daily basis has
waned to a passive acceptance of our new common reality our assumptions about what it means
to produce, communicate, and connect has been transformed in ways we still don’t quite
understand the long-term ramifications of.
The Problem: At the heart of these shifts and ramifications is a question of how we as a society
and as individuals relate to the virtual technology that is now determining our social interactions.
Many of us are spending more time on our computers than we have ever had before. We make
jokes about how we spend so much more time we spend answering email than speaking to
friends and colleagues in person and we make off-handed comments on Zoom calls about how
time is more meaningless than ever.
In these jokes there lies a much deeper and more profound set of fears and insecurities: will
things ever be the same as they were before? How do we reclaim agency over these changes that
seem so outside our control? What does it mean to connect and work and communicate in a
world in which we are required to be separated by pixels and screens?
A primary element of the underlying psychology of the pandemic, especially as it relates to
technology, is that it has forcibly invited us to ask fundamental questions about the nature of
work, our relationship with technology, and our greater definitions of meaning and purpose in
our lives. Some of these questions can feel incredibly unsettling. They can make us feel out of
control, disoriented, and isolated. However, there are steps we can each take to flourish in our
new normal without losing our agency or integrity.

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1.3 Significance & Importance
Our world has seen many severe diseases and viruses over the years, these viruses and diseases
has brought many affects in the lives of humans. Lets talk about he current pandemic which has
taken the lives of so many people in one year, COVID 19. This deadly covid 19 is one of the
most fearful and dreadful viruses that has made very bad impact in lives. From the past one year,
each and every single person on earth is prisoned at home.
Role of technology in COVID19: During the COVID 19 pandemic, LOCKDOWN had been
imposed everywhere in the world. The educational institutions were shut, offices were closed,
markets were closed, and every sector was closed because of this deadly virus. In this fearful
situation the technology has also helped us. When the educational institutions were shut all over
the world, Online classes and sessions were organized through technology
Office employees were operating from home through technology. Physical business was just
converted into online business during he pandemic and gained much popularity and income.
During the COVID 19, when many people all over the world lost their jobs, many of them
started doing online remote jobs and business such FREELANCING, BLOGGING, DIGITAL
MARKETING ETC.

What is the importance of technology during this pandemic: Lets talk about the use of
technology during the pandemic. Many hospitals uses the advanced technology to treat the covid
patients. New treatment machines were developed. Covid 19 ratio and spread can be monetize
through new artificial intelligence based systems. The covid 19 vaccines were developed in less
than one year through technology. The technology also helped us to our time passed during
lockdown.
During the lockdown, many people were getting mentally ill but technology has also helped us to
counter mental illness. Many people choose to play video games during the lockdown, many
choose to do video calls with their friends around the world during the pandemic and many
choose to work online to keep themselves busy during the lockdown.

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IMPACTS OF COVID 19: The covid 19 has brought many bad impacts and affects in our
lives. Nearly half of the population of the world has lost their jobs. Education sector especially
students had suffered from big loss. The global economies got shut down. The exports were
down. Physical business has also suffered a very big loss.
Transportation was also down. Many other sectors including sports health etc were in the loss.
We can say that the life got shut. Before the COVID 19 many deadly viruses had also taken the
lives of millions of people around the world. Lets talk about the polio virus. This is one of the
deadliest virus in history of human life.
When this virus enters a human body, that human being will not be able to stand or walk. We can
imagine that how much it is painful for a human being when he sees other persons walking and
running but he himself could not even stand on his feet. Similarly more than 100 years back
today, the spanish flu had also taken the lives of many people. The ebola virus had also brought
many bad affects on human life.
The polio virus has just finished from the world because of polio vaccine, but there are only 2
countries where this deadly virus still exist, PAKISTAN AND AFGHANISTAN. The reason is
that majority of the people in these countries don't like the polio vaccine.
They say that this vaccine is harmful for human body, however that's not true, because this
vaccine has just eliminated the virus from all over the world but people in Pakistan and
Afghanistan consider it as their enemy.
In Pakistan, many people are getting into the polio virus daily because they denied the vaccine.
The government of PAKISTAN is also taking great steps to create awareness among people
about polio virus and it's vaccine but people in Pakistan are not taking it seriously.
That is why this virus is getting eliminated from Pakistan. The dengue virus is also one of the
deadliest virus in human history. Millions of people all over the world died daily due to dengue
virus. Similarly congo virus is also taking human lives.
But the technology has always helped the human kind to fight against these deadly viruses and
diseases.

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As i explained above that vaccine of every virus is developed with the help of technology. Many
new medicines to counter these viruses is developed through technology. The technology has
also helped us in planting new medicine and vaccine factories, which is also a source of
employment for millions of people all over the world.
Every vaccine is checked properly through technology and released in the market with the
approval of BIG health organizations, but many people around the world just deny the vaccines.
During the current pandemic people around the world also believed in rumors regarding the
Corona virus vaccine and denied the vaccine. However, the Covid 19 vaccine is checked
properly through latest technology and it is declared safe for all by WHO.
How technology helped us to counter diseases and viruses? Technology is just gaining it's
importance day by day in every field, especially it has played an important role in the health
sector. it has provided new ideas to counter the viruses and diseases. Many new companies are
investing billions in technology for countering the viruses and diseases around the world.
There are many new and old viruses in every part of the world right now and the technologies
like artificial intelligence disease checker, thermal guns, thermometers, vaccines designed with
technology, are helping really much to counter out these viruses.
The importance of technology to counter out viruses and diseases cannot be neglected. During
the current pandemic, covid patients are detected on the airports with help of virus detector
monitors. Similarly thermal guns are used to check the temperature in schools, offices and other
places. The technology has gained much importance in the health sector.

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1.4 Theories
The global pandemic of Covid-19 has successfully changed the world. Causing massive outbreak
to almost 213 countries, this new disease has created universal crisis since its first out coming on
November 2019. Around 9 million people are claimed to be infected by severe acute respiratory
syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the infective agent of Covid-19. This virus largely
spread from person to person through direct contact by catching the droplets of infected person
which contain the virus. As the result, many attempts are taken by the leader of the contaminated
country and district in order to decrease the case. They started to lockdown their area as the first
case found, having their people to do self-quarantine at home. Regular activities such as working
and learning should be conducted at home as public places and facilities are temporary closed.
The lockdown has brought impactful effect to human life as it created a great transition in daily
routine. Most of the occupation should be conducted remote in order to keep everything runs
well during this pandemic. The utilization of technology becomes the main option to be used in
order to stay connected to the work. The majority of companies and organizations shift their plan
such as meeting and presentation to virtual landscape. They have to find backup strategy to
maintain the stability of company flow. Rearranging the schedule and modifying the project are
the other things that they have to consider. On the other hand, according to Jakarta Post on the
recent survey by Redseer, a management of consulting company, Indonesia’s e-commerce
income is sky-rocketed for about 50% to reach US$35 billion in 2020 as the cause of new
consumer growth during Covid-19 pandemic. It also affected by the fact that goods producer
such as entrepreneur allocate their selling into online shopping based as the attempt to lessen the
spread of the virus. By shopping through online platform, the seller and the buyer do not need to
do face to face transaction. However, customer have to make their order through e-commerce
such as Shopee, Lazada, and Tokopedia which will be processed and delivered via post.
Additionally, the similar thing happen in education sector in which both teacher and students
have to conduct online based learning. The Ministry of Education and Culture asks educational
organization especially school and university to suspend offline class and adapt e-learning during
Covid-19, as stated in its circular letter no. 4/2020. The teaching and learning activities should be
done virtually using group chat or video conference. After that, exercises such as task and test
are given and submitted through online media. Under those circumstances, some innovation are
made to modify digital platform into the media for online teaching and learning. Chatting and
video call application are used to conduct discussion and presentation to provide materials for
students. Social media such as Instagram, Youtube and Twitter are utilized as the media for
students to upload their tasks. Hence, teachers are required to be creative in using the available
digital platform to create meaningful and interesting online learning for students.
On the other hand, the utilization of technology is also important for healthcare system. Using
sophisticated technology which is based on medical approach, scientist try to find the vaccine of
Covid19. Technological application are developed to find the pattern of the virus and test the
possible cure before being produced massively. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is also involved in
tracking the victims of Covid-19. A group of scientist based in China, The Novel Coronavirus
Pneumonia Emergency Response Epidemiology Team (NCPERT), develop and expand Artificial

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Intelligence (AI) in lung scan to have extensive analysis of corona virus. The AI is able to detect
the characteristic of corona virus inside someone’s lung by screening the image from CT-scan.
Then the data are transferred to the computer which is automatically processed and shows
diagnose of the detected victims. In addition, we can also find the utilization of AI in medical
device. Many kinds of robots also operated to help the doctor and nurse as one used in Pertamina
Jaya Hospital. Food and medicine are distributed to the patient by the autonomous droid named
Amy. While a chatbot called Temi is arranged to help nurse doing medical control to patient.
Another kind of automaton such as cleaning robot which is allowed to spray the disinfectant and
swab medical tools is also under proposal to be used in hospital.
Overall, digital platform raises its popularity since it comes as basic demand during this hard
time. As we can see in the status quo, before Covid-19 most of people give less attention to
technology. Compared to people who rarely touch digital items as they do not need it for their
basic purposes, only some professions and experts who work using digital platform such as
programmer, graphic designer and application developer are familiar to the technological trend
and changing. People like teachers, nurses, or doctors, for instances, only use some common and
general platform such as online messenger and social media without having more exploration
about other kinds of useful technology. Hence, it is the best time to introduce technology broadly
to all people from any background, building awareness to the urgency of digital literacy. It is
obvious that digitalization promote a long-term effect to our lives, having people to be more
versatile to the importance of digital understanding.

Seeing from education side, teacher and students are prepared to the implementation of blended
class which combines offline and online learning. This kind of learning is proven effectively in
increasing students’ ability and achievements. Hence, by having the prior knowledge in
navigating educational based application and online class management, both teachers and
students are ready for blended learning. On the other hand, the continuous usage of AI in
healthcare system can help medical agent in preparing and providing powerful health care. It also
useful to shorten the time in giving service to the patient, having doctors and nurses to do their
job more efficiently. Moreover, digital media takes us to the flexibility in accessing larger
network. Communicating, shopping, learning, working and other basic activities can be
completed easily at once by manipulating technology. As the result, people drive to find out and
learn more about how technology works in providing human needs, being more up to date with
the latest news of digital improvement. Thus, we will get used to use digital stuff and technology
especially in fulfilling our daily basis.
Furthermore, there will be more idea developed to create transformation in technology. The more
advanced innovation are established as the authentic solution, especially for the phenomenal
issues such as Covid-19. Consequently, in the future, technological progress and breakthrough
covers for almost any field, adjusting the conventional one. We will live in the world where
technology and digital access coming as our demand to simplify our work. AI and other
computer systems will be used in many sectors to assist varying human task. However, by the
awareness of technology built as the result of Covid-19 we will also know how to survive in the

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digital revolution era, having deeper understanding on what should be anticipated in facing the
digitization. At last, we have been prepared for futuristic life.
To conclude, the development of technology amazingly improved by the effect of Covid-19.
People are enlightened to the update information of technology and have better access to digital
media. The shared exposure of digital use have us to be more sensitive and mindful to the
importance of technology and how its changes affect our way of living. Furthermore, the
evolvement in inventing brand-new creation in technology becomes trend among digital
developer in order to solve the problems caused by Covid19. However, the finding gives long-
term use as it still can be developed and utilized after this pandemic end. Hence, at the end of the
day, people are adapted to the technology used in daily life.

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1.5 Government Guidelines

WHO guidelines towards the outbreak

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Most people infected with the virus will experience mild to moderate respiratory illness and
recover without requiring special treatment. However, some will become seriously ill and require
medical attention. Older people and those with underlying medical conditions like cardiovascular
disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, or cancer are more likely to develop serious illness.
Anyone can get sick with COVID-19 and become seriously ill or die at any age.

The best way to prevent and slow down transmission is to be well informed about the disease
and how the virus spreads. Protect yourself and others from infection by staying at least 1 metre
apart from others, wearing a properly fitted mask, and washing your hands or using an alcohol-
based rub frequently. Get vaccinated when it’s your turn and follow local guidance.

The virus can spread from an infected person’s mouth or nose in small liquid particles when they
cough, sneeze, speak, sing or breathe. These particles range from larger respiratory droplets to
smaller aerosols. It is important to practice respiratory etiquette, for example by coughing into a
flexed elbow, and to stay home and self-isolate until you recover if you feel unwell.

Stay informed:
 Advice for the public
 Myth busters
 Questions and answers
 Situation reports
 All information on the COVID-19 outbreak

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1.6 Status with reference to India
The COVID-19 pandemic forced people to adopt internet and internet-based services to
communicate, interact, and perform their official duties from home. It also brought a noticeable
surge in the time people spent in watching content on various OTT platforms like Netflix,
Amazon Prime and Hotstar etc.
 With the help of the technology, we started participating in virtual meetings, work from
home became a new culture and we gradually became familiar with terms like “You are
on mute” on Zoom, MS Teams and Skype meetings.
 The situation saw people making adjustments as they dealt with issues like poor internet
connectivity, power cuts, and, of course, a spike in app usage on mobile phones.
 Like other sectors, the education sector too experienced a sea change and digital learning
became a new trend. More teachers started taking online classes and several ed-tech start-
ups like BYJU’s, Unacademy, upGrad, Vedantu flourished.

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On March 24, the day when the COVID-induced national lockdown turns one year old, as I take
a trip down the memory lanes, I realise how technology has played a pivotal role in our lives in
the past one year.Before the first outbreak of the COVID-19 virus in China’s Wuhan, no one
really knew that a deadly virus would drastically impact millions of lives across the globe and
lead to an inevitable surge of various digital technologies.

Having confined ourselves to the four walls of our home after the Prime Minister announced a

21-day national lockdown to break the chain of Covid-19 infections with a greater emphasis on

social distancing measures last year, we all had a gloomy and apocalyptic vision of the future

which looked uncertain.

With the help of the technology, we started participating in virtual meetings, work from home

became a new culture and we gradually became familiar with terms like “You are on mute” on

Zoom, MS Teams and Skype meetings.

However, this increased dependence on technology also led to unwanted stress as people were

slowly getting used to the “new normal” as against the purported comfort of the conventional

work from office culture.

The situation saw people making adjustments as they dealt with issues like poor internet

connectivity, power cuts, and, of course, a spike in app usage on mobile phones.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced people to adopt internet and internet-based services to
communicate, interact, and perform their official duties from home. It also brought a noticeable

surge in the time people spent in watching content on various OTT platforms like Netflix,

Amazon Prime and Hotstar etc. This was obvious as more and more people relied on these OTT

platforms for recreation after a hectic day.

Like other sectors, the education sector too experienced a sea change and digital learning became

a new trend. More teachers started taking online classes and several ed-tech start-ups like

BYJU’s, Unacademy, upGrad, Vedantu flourished.

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Students as their parents were encouraged to adopt the online mode of education and they soon

became familiar with Zoom video calls for receiving normal lectures and attending their exams

online.

Coming to the boom in the online gaming segment, the pandemic triggered exponential growth

in online video games as the changing work-life patterns forced many to play online video games

for relaxation.

Several video games specially designed for children became hugely popular during these times,

possibly due to lack of physical activity and the void created by the pandemic.

The pandemic had a severe impact on human relationships since due to reduced physical

contacts, people relied heavily on tech-fuelled diversions to stay in touch with their family and

friends.

Contrary to the tradition of visiting each other during festivals, people contacted each other

through mobile phones and video calls, courtesy the lockdown and travel restrictions imposed

during the pandemic.

Physical interactions and social gatherings became impossible and people started utilizing

technology to socialize with their near and dear ones. Virtual pub quizzes and live streaming of

favourite sport became the new popcorn for people.

Another segment that witnessed a major boom is the online retail market, for example, online

grocery stores like Big Basket, Grofers, Biz Bazaar, Flipkart, Amazon, etc grew by leaps and

bounds during the pandemic.

Millions of families across the country chose to order groceries via online apps rather than

visiting the nearby shops during the lockdown restrictions which further points to the role that

the technology played during the pandemic.

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Big tech companies like Apple and Samsung resorted to online events for the launch, promotion,

and sale of their flagship products and conducted webinars on Zoom calls and Google Meet.

Even the banking sector was not untouched due to the pandemic and banks had to re-strategize to

adapt to the new normal and brought in several online services for the customers.

Looking at the health sector, online yoga and fitness sessions became very popular due to apps

like Cure.fit and Fittr which brought in live workout sessions which helped fitness freaks to

pursue their passion even during the lockdown. A lot of people purchased fitness equipment to

exercise at home with the help of technology.

As it is said that there are two faces of the coin, technology too can be an open-ended sword as

we came across several instances of cybersecurity breaches during the pandemic.

In the name of various sale offers made by the e-commerce platforms, hackers lured users by

creating spurious links and there were phishing attacks that created a mess for these e-commerce

companies.

While there is no doubt that technology has become an integral part of our daily lives during the

pandemic, it can be a boon if used wisely. But, at the same time, we need to understand that too

much dependence on technology can also have a catastrophic impact on our health and general

well-being.

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1.7 Status with reference to World
Governments need to make full use of digital technologies to confront the COVID-19 pandemic
and address a wide range of pandemic-related issues according to another new policy brief issued
today by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

The pandemic is compelling governments and societies to turn toward digital technologies to
respond to the crisis and, increasingly, is requiring governments to adopt an open government
approach and to use digi-tal communication channels to provide reliable infor-mation on global
and national COVID-19 developments.

With lockdowns and other social distancing measures in effect in many countries, and with more
people relying on the internet for information and advice, gov-ernments are being urged to
deploy effective digital technolo-gies to contain the outbreak.

According to the brief, a review of the national portals of the 193 United Nations Member States
showed that by 25 March 2020, 57 per cent (110 countries) had posted some kind of information
on COVID-19, while around 43 per cent (83 countries) had not. But by 8 April 2020, around 86
per cent (167 countries) have included information and guidance about COVID-19 in their
portals.

Government information has focused on information about the outbreak, travel restrictions,
practical guidance on protection, and governmental response. Governments, as the first custodian
of data re-lated to COVID-19, have also started publishing sta-tistics that include the total
number of cases in a country, total fatalities, as well reporting of cases by jurisdictions.

Governments have also designed new apps and services to help in the fight against COVID-19,
to facilitate services such as delivering food and other essential items to those most in need by

22
optimizing the entire supply chain via digital government services. Some Member States
re-corded an increase in the usage of online services such as digital ID and digital signature, due
to the spikes in appli-cations for unemployment and other social benefits.

Some countries, balancing health imperatives and privacy concerns, have found that digital
applications can help trace and test people who have come into contact with an infected person.

According to the policy brief, governments, often lacking the financial and human re-source
capabilities to quickly and efficiently develop digi-tal tools that can support people during a
crisis situation, should build partnerships with private technology companies, social
entrepreneurs or other national and in-ternational organizations to make use of existing
technologies to meet the needs of people and soften the impact of the cri-sis on their lives.

“Policymakers should seize the COVID-19 crisis as an opportunity to establish tailor-made

digital government tools, strategies and collaborations for the future,” the brief states. “The
cri-sis has demonstrated that it is impossible for societies to ignore technological advancements
as they are continuing to change business models and people’s everyday lives. Governments
should embrace these policy- and techno-logical developments and harvest the digital
opportuni-ties that can support the long-term sustainable develop­ment of their countries.”

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1.8 Drawbacks

17 Disadvantages of Digital (Technology)

Disadvantages of Digital Technology , Digital technology has changed contemporary life with
gadgets like notebooks, tablet computers, and smartphones today commonly owned.
In addition to bringing advantages, electronic technology has also purchased many drawbacks.
Digital technology has revolutionized virtually every aspect of people’s lives lately.
Office work, shopping, music, videos, tv, photography, travel, transportation, and long-distance
communications are only some places that were transformed.
In reality, it is fair to state that it has become increasingly rare to discover any digital devices or
big machinery that does not integrate digital technologies in some manner.

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Digital technology frequently means that devices have generally become much smaller, lighter,
faster, and more flexible than they were.
Additionally, it usually means that enormous amounts of data can be saved locally or remotely
and transferred from place to place almost immediately.
Even the expression”data” has expanded to incorporate photographs, sound, video, and other
websites, instead of just numbers and letters.
The info can be a lot more easily manipulated also : photographs, music, and videos can be
edited, for example.
But, there are drawbacks to electronic technologies also.
Seventeen of those downsides are given below.
17 Digital Technology Disadvantages
1. Data Security
2. Crime and Terrorism
3. Complexity
4. Privacy Concerns
5. Social Disconnect
6. Work Overload
7. Digital Media Manipulation
8. Job Insecurity
9. Plagiarism and Copyright
10. Anonymity and Fake Personas
11. Over-reliance on Gadgets
12. Addiction
13. Second-hand Living
14. Organization and Storage
15. Depersonalized Warfare
16. Longevity
17. Social Depersonalization

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1- Data Security Disadvantages in Technology

Digital technology ensures that enormous amounts of information could be accumulated and
saved.
This is sometimes private information regarding organizations or individuals.
It can be quite tricky to keep this information secure.
Only a single breach can mean huge sums of personal information entering the hands of
terrorists, terrorists, company competitions, foreign adversaries, or alternative malign entities
2- Crime and Terrorism Disadvantages in Technology
The worldwide web is fertile land for malevolent forces to function,
as a result of its global character, enormous scale, and also the relative anonymity that consumers
may enjoy.
Examples of such include: terrorists employing social media to market themselves and promote
others;
drug traders employing the darknet to exchange; pedophiles using chat rooms as well as
other areas to groom prospective sufferers,
trade photographs, videos, and other info; and authoritarian regimes trying to influence or distort
elections in democratic nations.
We’ve turned into a people unable to understand the technology we devise.
3- Complexity Disadvantages in Technology
We no longer know the workings of these machines and devices which we interact with daily.
Repairing a contemporary automobile today means interacting with a computer, it’s not just
mechanical.
Employing a phone can entail handling all kinds of complex settings.
Minor glitches at the operations of a notebook can cost both time and cost.

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4- Privacy Concerns Disadvantages in Technology
It has become much more difficult to own privacy in the electronic world and that is in addition
to the risks of your personal information being stolen or sold.
As an example, everybody gets the capability to shoot photos and video footage on their cell
phone, then place it on the internet.
Employers can look for individuals on the internet and possibly find unflattering photos,
Or view them expressing controversial remarks in social networking or sites.
Digital cameras see and record our moves in public areas.
Minor indiscretions are now able to infect someone for life when they are posted online.
Assessing your personal information is extremely hard and at times impossible.
5- Social Disconnect Disadvantages in Technology

There’s a growing trend for people to interact and communicate via electronic devices instead of
via real-life contact.
This can easily result in a feeling of isolation and disconnect.
Human beings have developed over thousands of years to have actual contact,
taking away that impacts them in all kinds of negative ways we only just starting to comprehend.
Studies have indicated that the absence of actual life touch is causing depression and other kinds
of mental disease in a lot of men and women.
There are a variety of psychological studies indicating that the electronic world is causing a
heightened risk of mental disease.
Examples include reliance on interpersonal websites for touch, online bullying, and perform
pressure through data overload.

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6- Work Overload Disadvantages in Technology
Many contemporary employees spend their days trying to keep up with the countless emails
which they’re sent every week,
all of which need reading and some of which need answers or actions.
Texts from coworkers in the evenings or on the weekend may indicate that individuals never
completely escape function.
Organizing the huge number of digital information obtained in certain tasks, like the minutes of
meetings, instruction videos, photos, reports, and directions may also be a massive hassle.
7- Digital Media Manipulation

Digital media such as photos, sound, and video are simple to edit, which makes the manipulation
of websites prevalent.
It is not always easy to tell what’s real and what’s imitation anymore.
Pictures can be changed using editing programs like Photoshop.
Digital sound and video could be doctored.
8- Job Insecurity
It was that you needed to be physically present in a workplace to perform a project, but many
work tasks are done remotely through the net.
That usually means a Third World employee in a low wage economy can undercut you and
choose your work.
Increasingly, humans are not required at all for several jobs, as computers slowly replace them.
Driving and delivery tasks, for example, will vanish soon as automobiles become automatic.
9- Plagiarism and Copyright
Digital media is unexpectedly simple to replicate and reproduce.
Copyright laws are increasingly difficult to apply since the music and film industries have found
to their cost.

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School children can copy and paste their assignments jobs without actually learning anything.
A civilization of “sharing” on interpersonal websites means that frequently the first founder of a
piece of media is abandoned since the piece is accommodated and maintained by other people.
10- Anonymity and Fake Personas
Digital technology offers a wide range for users to conceal their identities.
Studies indicate that individuals are considerably more inclined to act anti-socially in case they
don’t feel that there’ll be any impacts.
Bullying, trolling, stalking, threatening, and insulting behavior have increased dramatically with
the development of the web.
People today assume imitation personas for the aims of scamming and defrauding.
Pedophiles use bogus personas to acquire access and Teach kids.
11- Over-reliance on Gadgets
Reliance on cellular phones, computers, and other electronic gadgets is becoming commonplace.
A lot of individuals have their contact information, photos, texts, along with other private details
on their telephones.
Should they lose their even the gadget breaks or runs out of electricity, then they’re in trouble.
Standard living skills, such as locating the way around the roads of a city, have been substituted
by taking instructions from a GPS.
Computer gambling addiction can cause numerous problems for consumers caught up inside.
Consequences include negative impacts on social life, financing, academic accomplishment,
sleep routines, in addition to psychological and health issues.
12- Addiction
Social networking, computer games, computer games, messaging, and related sites can be
addictive.
Games need one to play so you will purchase the next edition.
Sites would like you to socialize so that they can earn advertising money.
Users wind up wasting huge amounts of time and Earning cash for return.
13- Second-hand Living
A lot of individuals no longer encounter real-life events right.
Music concerts or live displays are videoed on cellular telephones, events are photographed,
music is listed.

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Media is uploaded onto social websites.
Life becomes a thing that’s experienced through the prism of electronic media instead of it
firsthand.
Tech [is] the knack of so arranging the world that we do not need to encounter it.
14- Organization and Storage
Digital media can be quite tough to organize. Pictures and audio,
for example, can be found on many devices, including cellular phones, tablet computers,
notebooks, and mobile hard drives.
Individual items can be tough to locate, simple to inadvertently delete
Or lose, along with the apparatus they’re saved on could be lost, stolen, or even suffer
catastrophic malfunction.
Digital media can be tricky to store and maintain long term.
Document formats change over time.
In some cases, conventional media can last more than their electronic equivalent.
15- Depersonalized Warfare

Digital technology ensures that weapons could be deployed anywhere in the world with no
authentic human army presence. Drones turn war into a pc game.
Intercontinental missiles follow roads and landmarks in foreign nations remotely.
Satellites monitor enemy pushes via photos and videos taken in distance.
16- Longevity
Digital gadgets normally have a brief lifespan and be primitive comparatively fast.

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Since the technology advances at a speed, machines and devices quickly become unusable since
they’re now viewed as too slow,
Or incompatible with other apparatus, or they’ve only been superseded by newer, better versions.
This produces enormous waste and inefficiency,
as old electronics are discarded when no longer useful.
Additionally, it may become quite expensive for users whenever you need to update every
couple of years to some other device.
A lot of life’s activities are now able to occur without leaving the house.
The disadvantage to this is that society has become increasingly depersonalized.
17- Social Alienation
Society has become more and more impartial as digitized machines substitute people.
Folks shop online, do their banking online, pay invoices online, and progressively operate online.
Transportation can be set to become automatic, which will finally lead to taxis and delivery
vehicles getting driver free.
Loneliness and too little human contact with a flesh and blood individual are becoming more and
more common.

REFERENCES:

1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
2. https://www.psychologytoday.com/
3. https://www.linkedin.com/
4. https://www.who.int/
5. https://www.tech.gov.sg/
6. https://laurelhs.org/

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Literature Review:
The COVID-19 pandemic altered our world in many ways including the acceleration of digital
transformation. Here we discuss the five technology megatrends of our times and how their
adoption was accelerated by the reality of trying to sustain business as well as live and cope in a
COVID-19-impacted world.

While many were juggling at-home schooling of children and professional responsibilities amid
stay-at-home orders because of COVID-19, the digital transformation accelerated. Here are five
of the biggest technology trends of our times and how the coronavirus pandemic accelerated their
adoption. This acceleration will change how businesses operate and compete as they emerge out
of the pandemic.
1. Artificial Intelligence (AI): Even before COVID, artificial intelligence helped organizations
engage with customers and automate and enhance business processes. We have more data than
ever before and AI allows us to make sense of the data faster. During the COVID pandemic,
when time was of the essence, AI helped public health officials predict infection rates as well as
ICU demand and capacity.
As we start to emerge from lockdown, AI is helping companies understand economic trends, as
well as their competitors and customers. One of my clients is a construction company and they

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are using AI and satellite image data to better understand and analyze progress against their
competitors.
AI can read now read, write, see and speak. SummarizeBot, an AI and blockchain-powered bot,
consolidates all types of information in a concise summary of the key points, keywords and most
important parts of the content. AI can not only read, but it can now write. Not only do human
writers produce content for some of the biggest names in journalism such as The New York
Times, Washington Post and Forbes, but machines do as well. Alibaba, the world’s largest e-
commerce platform, automatically generates product descriptions through natural language
processing AI.
We have seen AI with the sense of sight as well through facial recognition and machine vision
capabilities. Domino’s Pizza uses machine vision and an AI tool to scan pizzas to ensure it
passes quality-control standards. And, certainly, in healthcare, machine learning helps scan
images of people’s lungs to see the affects of coronavirus and other diseases, evaluate other
images and analyze X-rays and otherwise help out with automation and accessibility.
Artificial intelligence helps machines speak as well. Chatbots are an integral part of regular
customer communication and engagement especially as more people were furloughed due to
COVID. Lidl supermarket has a wine bot called Margot that gives customers wine
recommendations via Facebook Messenger that will complement whatever they’re eating. Many
of us rely on Siri, Alexa and Google Home to speak directions, the forecast, our schedules and
more to us each day and they can do this because of artificial intelligence.
2. Robotics, Drones and Vehicle Automation: The next mega trend that accelerated during
COVID-19 is the use of robotics, drones and vehicle automation. Of course, AI is a massive
enabler to these technologies. To ensure compliance with social distancing, China used drones to
monitor its population, Amazon put machine learning to use in its warehouses to confirm social
distancing and in Singapore, a Boston Dynamics robot in the shape of a dog and aptly named
Spot patrolled parks. If a violator was spotted, Spot would approach and play a recorded message
to remind them of the mandates for social distancing and large groups.
Another way robots, drones and vehicle automation are put to use is to ensure resiliency of the
supply chain. During COVID, many companies experienced disruptions to their supply chains.
In order to avoid that situation in the future in the event of future pandemics, they are beginning
to explore how to minimize human involvement in the supply chain where possible. As a result,
the use of robots for deliveries and automating trucks and ships throughout supply chains is
being tested.
UPS has already been delivering cargo with self-driving trucks since last year between Phoenix
and Tucson, Arizona, in a partnership with TuSimple. And Daimler Trucks and its subsidiary
Torc Robotics have deployed heavy-duty trucks on the public highways in Virginia.
Amazon received FAA approval to use delivery drones from Wing (a subsidiary of Google
parent company Alphabet) to make deliveries in Blacksburg, Virginia, and the demand more

33
than doubled during the COVID-19 pandemic. JD.com, the Chinese e-commerce giant had
already been using drones for delivery since 2016.
In healthcare, robots have been used to deliver medicine, complete patient intake and even for
surgery. Mako robotic systems have already completed more than 300,000 hip and knee
replacement surgeries.
If you’re a Google employee or signed up for taxi service through Waymo, you can be driven by
an autonomous vehicle to your destination. Although it’s still in the pilot program stage, it’s a
sign of what to expect in the future. In Dubai, a two-seater, self-flying taxi called the Volocopter
is being used.
The reality is that nearly anything can be automated. In fact, a 400-year-old temple in Japan has
a robotic priest and there’s a French nightclub with robot pole dancers.
3. The As-a-Service and Cloud Revolution: One of the ways that makes companies adaptable
to market conditions is the ability to dial up or down their services through as-a-service
platforms and through the cloud. We now have as-a-service solutions for artificial intelligence,
robotics, machine learning and other technologies. This makes it possible for companies to
partner with IBM, Microsoft, Amazon and other as-a-service and cloud providers to use their AI
platform and pay for what they need when they need it.
For example, during COVID, Zoom saw very high demand for its service as people were
working remotely but still needed to conduct business. Zoom was able to accommodate this huge
spike in demand because they scaled up with their cloud provider. Cloud gives you the ability to
scale up and down as necessary.
Today it’s possible to lease robotic devices for a number of different uses including for security,
warehouse picking and assembly lines through robotics-as-a-service providers such as Google,
Amazon and Honda.
4. Faster Networks and 5G: While we were forced to work from home during the pandemic,
many companies realized positive outcomes and even after COVID-19 is behind us we’ll still
need stable wireless networking. The number of devices needing to be connected wirelessly will
continue to grow as will the varied streams of data. The fifth generation of the internet, 5G will
transform things and it will be so much faster than 4G.
The speed and reliability of 5G will enable even more technologies to be adopted be a wider
variety of organizations and industries. In fact, there’s now facial recognition for salmon farms
deployed at fish farming giant Cermaq. The system uses cameras capable of 3D scanning and
can tell fish apart by the pattern of spots around their eyes, gills and mouth. This technology can
help monitor the health of the fish population and contribute to increases in production.
However, for this type of technology to be used seamlessly it requires a mobile network capable
of handling large amounts of data. 5G allows for the connection that is needed on the mobile
internet. The as-a-service trend will also be able to expand with the capabilities of 5G and can
open the door to different use cases such as in entertainment and gaming and enables all the
other technologies discussed here.

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5. Extended Reality (Augmented, Virtual and Mixed Reality)
When shops weren’t open due to COVID-19, those that had virtual reality were able to sustain
better during the pandemic than those who didn’t. There are many ways extended reality
including augmented, virtual and mixed reality help enhance the customer experience.

1.1 Thesis
We all can see how this COVID-19 pandemic has caused many unwanted and unprecedented
changes in every industrial sector whether it be Automobile, Hospitality, Aviation, Retail, or any
other. All in all, a majority of these sectors have experienced only the negative impacts of this
pandemic or lockdown situation on their respective businesses.

However, there are a few business sectors as well that haven’t only got negatively impact by this
global pandemic, but there is also a silver lining for them in this situation – and here we’re talking
one of such prominent sectors i.e., Information Technology (IT). The IT industry has not only
tackled the current situation decently to keep their workflow continue, but it has been the savior
of various other businesses as well.
Before moving further, let’s take a look at a few important stats based on several standard research
reports:

35
  Despite this global crisis, the revenue of the IT Industry was calculated at around USD 190
Billion for 2020-21, and it is expected to reach around USD 300-350 Billion by the year
2025.
 Around 35-38% of tech organizations are likely to improve or enhance their IT operations
and infrastructure due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
 The leading companies of the sectors have reported an average of 5-10% increase in IT
expenditures only because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
 The Cloud Software and Digital Platforms have comparatively witnessed the fastest
business expansion in 2020 when everyone was working from home.
The above-mentioned numbers depict that IT Industry has somehow extracted the best out of this
crisis situation where all other businesses are thriving hard to get back to normal.
If we look at the reasons behind this positive impact of the covid crisis or respective lockdown
situation on the IT Industry, we will find out that all individuals or businesses, when they’re locked
at home or are working remotely, are using digital tools and technologies whether it be Social
Media Platforms like LinkedIn or Instagram, Communication Apps like Zoom or Microsoft
Teams, Cloud Software, etc. to continue their job/business. And this eventually increased the
demand and usage of the internet and technologies significantly. Just for an example – let us tell
you that Zoom alone experienced year-on-year growth of around 340-345% in the year 2020.
Similarly, as per the McKinsey & Company reports, due to the covid-19 crisis, there has been a
significant shift in technology adoption and digitization worldwide – the digital adoption has
fast-forwarded by around 3 years.
Furthermore, the IT Industry is the one that has also supported other businesses or industries to
keep things ongoing. For instance, when all the schools and physical classrooms are closed, it is
due to all those tools and technologies that students all across the world are able to continue with
the learning. In fact, various tech advancements in ed-tech like AI and ML, AR & VR, etc. are
making the learning experience better for the students, compared to conventional physical
classroom-based education. Other than that, platforms related to e-commerce, etc. have also
reported a never-seen-before usage and growth during the lockdown period.
And most importantly, the recent involvement of the IT Industry in the healthcare domain to
deal with the coronavirus crisis is also one of the major reasons behind the upward trend of this
particular sector in terms of growth and demand. From contact tracing platforms to advanced
technologies for rapid testing to remote surveillance of patients – the tech industry is assisting out
the healthcare system in all possible ways and a lot of apps and platforms have been built in the
last few months to accomplish various healthcare-related tasks.
Though…we still can’t say either that the IT Industry has witnessed zero negative impact –
but what we can say is that this pandemic situation has caused the tech organizations to adopt
modern technologies that can cope up with such pandemic situations without discontinuing the
company’s workflow or operations. And due to this, IT businesses are forced to undergo the
required digital transformation where, without any doubt, will be numerous career opportunities

36
for individuals but if we look at the other side, many conventional technologies or their respective
tech jobs seem to get outdated.
For example, the lockdown has generated the desperate need for chatbots in the end-to-end
customer businesses that can assist the customers with their concerns or queries. Now, chances are
more that in the near future chatbots are more likely to be used by almost every organization to
solve customers’ queries or update them with the latest information and subsequently will replace
human executives.
Some of the tech trends or domains that are all set to grow in terms of demand and usage, particular
due to the covid-19 crisis and its effects are listed below:
1. Internet of Behaviors (IoB)
2. 5G
3. Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality
4. Total Experience (TX)
5. Blockchain
6. Distributed Cloud
7. Hyperautomation
8. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, etc.
However, it would be somehow better if tech organizations integrate these technologies into their
workflow and infrastructure to reinforce operations and enhance the productivity & efficiency of
their workforce rather than doing it just for the sake of replacing the manpower with tech
advancement.
Other than that, if we talk about the internal policies, operations, and management of tech
companies – it has also significantly impacted and changed due to the covid crisis. For instance, a
quick shift to the WFH model, online interviews and hiring process, etc. But this can also be
considered as a blessing in disguise for the tech companies as after the remote working process it
has been observed by many leading tech companies that their efficiency and productivity rate has
somehow got increased. And that perhaps the reason that many big tech giants are likely to adopt
these workflow changes permanently (even after the post covid times).
Just for an example – let us tell you that Twitter has already made a public announcement
about its permanent work from home plans. Similarly, Facebook has also officially hinted that
around 50% of the company’s workforce could be working remotely in the next 5-10 years.
However, things can be a bit difficult for the small tech startups or companies as they may find it
difficult to adapt to such changes easily most probably due to lack of infrastructure, capital,
exposure, etc.
The entire above discussion implies that the impact of Covid-19 on the Information Technology
(IT) Industry is may not be that severe or negative compared to other business sectors – but now
the IT Industry or tech sector has more responsibilities to come up with advanced technologies and
platforms in the market to deal with the post-covid world.

37
For example – once things will get back to normal, other sectors like hospitality, manufacturing,
retail, etc. most probably will work in the same way (or with some minor changes in the workflow)
as they were doing in pre-covid times. But the case is not the same with the IT sector as tech
organizations have to look at the bigger picture and need to work on those tech solutions that can
ensure the continued operations of every business out there or other domains like education, etc.
without any hassle despite the pandemic-like situations!

1.2 Dissertation

The global pandemic of Covid-19 has successfully changed the world. Causing massive outbreak

38
to almost 213 countries, this new disease has created universal crisis since its first out coming on
November 2019. Around 9 million people are claimed to be infected by severe acute respiratory
syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the infective agent of Covid-19. This virus largely
spread from person to person through direct contact by catching the droplets of infected person
which contain the virus. As the result, many attempts are taken by the leader of the contaminated
country and district in order to decrease the case. They started to lockdown their area as the first
case found, having their people to do self-quarantine at home. Regular activities such as working
and learning should be conducted at home as public places and facilities are temporary closed.

The lockdown has brought impactful effect to human life as it created a great transition in daily

routine. Most of the occupation should be conducted remote in order to keep everything runs

well during this pandemic. The utilization of technology becomes the main option to be used in

order to stay connected to the work. The majority of companies and organizations shift their plan

such as meeting and presentation to virtual landscape. They have to find backup strategy to

maintain the stability of company flow. Rearranging the schedule and modifying the project are

the other things that they have to consider. On the other hand, according to Jakarta Post on the

recent survey by Redseer, a management of consulting company, Indonesia’s e-commerce

income is sky-rocketed for about 50% to reach US$35 billion in 2020 as the cause of new

consumer growth during Covid-19 pandemic. It also affected by the fact that goods producer

such as entrepreneur allocate their selling into online shopping based as the attempt to lessen the

spread of the virus. By shopping through online platform, the seller and the buyer do not need to

do face to face transaction. However, customer have to make their order through e-commerce
such as Shopee, Lazada, and Tokopedia which will be processed and delivered via post.

Additionally, the similar thing happen in education sector in which both teacher and students

have to conduct online based learning. The Ministry of Education and Culture asks educational

organization especially school and university to suspend offline class and adapt e-learning during

Covid-19, as stated in its circular letter no. 4/2020. The teaching and learning activities should be

done virtually using group chat or video conference. After that, exercises such as task and test

are given and submitted through online media. Under those circumstances, some innovation are

made to modify digital platform into the media for online teaching and learning. Chatting and

39
video call application are used to conduct discussion and presentation to provide materials for

students. Social media such as Instagram, Youtube and Twitter are utilized as the media for

students to upload their tasks. Hence, teachers are required to be creative in using the available

digital platform to create meaningful and interesting online learning for students.

On the other hand, the utilization of technology is also important for healthcare system. Using

sophisticated technology which is based on medical approach, scientist try to find the vaccine of

Covid19. Technological application are developed to find the pattern of the virus and test the

possible cure before being produced massively. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is also involved in

tracking the victims of Covid-19. A group of scientist based in China, The Novel Coronavirus

Pneumonia Emergency Response Epidemiology Team (NCPERT), develop and expand Artificial

Intelligence (AI) in lung scan to have extensive analysis of corona virus. The AI is able to detect

the characteristic of corona virus inside someone’s lung by screening the image from CT-scan.

Then the data are transferred to the computer which is automatically processed and shows

diagnose of the detected victims. In addition, we can also find the utilization of AI in medical

device. Many kinds of robots also operated to help the doctor and nurse as one used in Pertamina

Jaya Hospital. Food and medicine are distributed to the patient by the autonomous droid named

Amy. While a chatbot called Temi is arranged to help nurse doing medical control to patient.

Another kind of automaton such as cleaning robot which is allowed to spray the disinfectant and

swab medical tools is also under proposal to be used in hospital.

Overall, digital platform raises its popularity since it comes as basic demand during this hard

time. As we can see in the status quo, before Covid-19 most of people give less attention to

technology. Compared to people who rarely touch digital items as they do not need it for their

basic purposes, only some professions and experts who work using digital platform such as

programmer, graphic designer and application developer are familiar to the technological trend

and changing. People like teachers, nurses, or doctors, for instances, only use some common and

general platform such as online messenger and social media without having more exploration

40
about other kinds of useful technology. Hence, it is the best time to introduce technology broadly

to all people from any background, building awareness to the urgency of digital literacy. It is

obvious that digitalization promote a long-term effect to our lives, having people to be more

versatile to the importance of digital understanding.

Seeing from education side, teacher and students are prepared to the implementation of blended

class which combines offline and online learning. This kind of learning is proven effectively in

increasing students’ ability and achievements. Hence, by having the prior knowledge in

navigating educational based application and online class management, both teachers and

students are ready for blended learning. On the other hand, the continuous usage of AI in

healthcare system can help medical agent in preparing and providing powerful health care. It also

useful to shorten the time in giving service to the patient, having doctors and nurses to do their

job more efficiently. Moreover, digital media takes us to the flexibility in accessing larger

network. Communicating, shopping, learning, working and other basic activities can be

completed easily at once by manipulating technology. As the result, people drive to find out and

learn more about how technology works in providing human needs, being more up to date with

the latest news of digital improvement. Thus, we will get used to use digital stuff and technology

especially in fulfilling our daily basis.

Furthermore, there will be more idea developed to create transformation in technology. The more
advanced innovation are established as the authentic solution, especially for the phenomenal

issues such as Covid-19. Consequently, in the future, technological progress and breakthrough

covers for almost any field, adjusting the conventional one. We will live in the world where

technology and digital access coming as our demand to simplify our work. AI and other

computer systems will be used in many sectors to assist varying human task. However, by the

awareness of technology built as the result of Covid-19 we will also know how to survive in the

digital revolution era, having deeper understanding on what should be anticipated in facing the

digitization. At last, we have been prepared for futuristic life.

41
To conclude, the development of technology amazingly improved by the effect of Covid-19.

People are enlightened to the update information of technology and have better access to digital

media. The shared exposure of digital use have us to be more sensitive and mindful to the

importance of technology and how its changes affect our way of living. Furthermore, the

evolvement in inventing brand-new creation in technology becomes trend among digital

developer in order to solve the problems caused by Covid19. However, the finding gives long-

term use as it still can be developed and utilized after this pandemic end. Hence, at the end of the

day, people are adapted to the technology used in daily life

1.3 Articles

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

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.
COVID-19, a previously unknown respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-21,2,
was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 11 March 2020, less than
3 months after cases were first detected. With now over 9.8 million confirmed cases and more
than 495,000 deaths3 recorded worldwide, there are grave concerns about the global health,
societal and economic effects of this virus, particularly on vulnerable and disadvantaged

42
populations, and in low- and middle-income countries with fragile health systems4,5. At the time
of this writing, 7.1 billion people live in countries that have had substantial travel and social
restrictions6.
As with the control of outbreaks and pandemics before it, controlling the COVID-19 pandemic
rests on the detection and containment of clusters of infection and the interruption of community
transmission to mitigate the impact on human health. During the plague outbreak that affected
14th-century Europe, isolation of affected communities and restriction of population movement
were used to avoid further spread7. These public-health measures for outbreak response remain
relevant today, including surveillance, rapid case identification, interruption of community
transmission and strong public communication. Monitoring how these measures are implemented
and their impact on incidence and mortality is essential.
All countries are required by the International Health Regulations (2005) 8 to have core capacity
to ensure national preparedness for infectious hazards that have the potential to spread
internationally. Research and development of new methods and technologies to strengthen these
core capacities often occurs during outbreaks, when innovation is an absolute necessity9. During
the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2003, Hong Kong identified clusters of
disease through the use of electronic data systems10. During the Ebola outbreaks in West Africa
in 2014–2016, mobile phone data were used to model travel patterns11, and hand-held
sequencing devices permitted more-effective contact tracing and a better understanding of the
dynamics of the outbreaks12. Similarly, digital technologies also have been deployed in the
COVID-19 pandemic13,14 (Table 1) to strengthen each of the four public-health measures noted
above.
Table 1 Digital technologies used in the COVID-19 pandemic

Public-health need Digital tool or Example of use Refs.

technology
Web-based epidemic
Web-based epidemic intelligence tools:
20,21,22,23,25
intelligence tools and
Machine learning
online syndromic Based on social
Digital
surveillance media or online
epidemiological search data: 30,31,32,33
surveillance
Survey apps and 37,38,48,49
Symptom reporting
websites
Data extraction and 39,40,41,42,43,44,45
Data dashboard
visualization
Connected diagnostic Point-of-care 58
device diagnosis
Rapid case Sensors including Febrile symptoms 51,52,53
identification wearables checking
Medical image 65,66
Machine learning
analysis

43
 Smartphone app, Paper: 71
Digital contact
Interruption of low-power Bluetooth Apps: 76,77,78,79
tracing
community technology Frameworks: 81,82,83
transmission Mobile-phone- Mobility-pattern Analysis: 84,87,88,89,93
location data analysis Datasets: 86,90,91,122
Social-media Targeted 104,107
platforms communication
Public Prioritized 105
Online search engine
communication information
Personalized 110
Chat-bot
information
Telemedicine, 50
Clinical care Tele-conferencing
referral

The digital revolution has transformed many aspects of life. As of 2019, 67% of the global
population had subscribed to mobile devices, of which 65% were smartphones—with the fastest
growth in Sub-Saharan Africa15. In 2019, 204 billion apps were downloaded16, and as of January
2020, 3.8 billion people actively used social media 17.
Here we critically review how digital technologies are being harnessed for the public-health
response to COVID-19 worldwide (Fig. 1). We discuss the breadth of innovations and their
respective limitations. This systems-level approach is needed to inform how digital strategies can
be incorporated into COVID-19-control strategies, and to help prepare for future epidemics.
Fig. 1: The interconnected digital technologies used in the public-health response to
COVID-19.

Many approaches use a combination of digital technologies and may rely on telecommunications
infrastructure and internet availability. Machine learning is shown as a separate branch for

44
clarity, although it also underpins many of the other technologies. Much of the data generated
from these technologies feeds into data dashboards. SMS, short message service.
Digital epidemiological surveillance
A core public-health function of outbreak management is understanding infection transmission in
time, place and person, and identifying risk factors for the disease to guide effective
interventions. A range of digital data sources are being used to enhance and interpret key
epidemiological data gathered by public-health authorities for COVID-19.
Online data sources for early disease detection
Established population-surveillance systems typically rely on health-related data from
laboratories, notifications of cases diagnosed by clinicians and syndromic surveillance networks.
Syndromic surveillance networks are based on reports of clinical symptoms, such as ‘influenza-
like illness’, rather than a laboratory diagnosis, from hospital and selected sentinel primary and
secondary healthcare facilities, which agree to provide regular surveillance data of all cases.
These sources, however, ultimately miss cases in which healthcare is not sought. In the UK, for
example, where until recently only hospitalized patients and healthcare workers were routinely
tested for COVID-19, confirmed cases represent an estimated 4.7% of symptomatic COVID-19
cases18. Identifying undetected cases would help elucidate the magnitude and characteristics of
the outbreak19 and reduce onward transmission.
In the past two decades, data from online news sites, news-aggregation services, social networks,
web searches and participatory longitudinal community cohorts have aimed to fill this gap. Data-
aggregation systems, including ProMED-mail20, GPHIN21, HealthMap22 and EIOS23, which use
natural language processing and machine learning to process and filter online data, have been
developed to provide epidemiological insight. These data sources are increasingly being
integrated into the formal surveillance landscape24 and have a role in COVID-19 surveillance.
The WHO’s platform EPI-BRAIN brings together diverse datasets for infectious-disease
emergency preparedness and response, including environmental and meteorological data 25.
Several systems have claimed detection of early disease reports for COVID-19, through the use
of crowdsourced data and news reports, before the WHO released a statement about the
outbreak14,20,26. The UK’s automatic syndromic surveillance system scans National Health
Service digital records27 to pick up clusters of a respiratory syndrome that could signal COVID-
19. There is also interest in using online data to estimate the true community spread of infectious
diseases28,29. Preliminary work on the epidemiological analysis of COVID-19-related social-
media content has been reported30,31,32. Models for COVID-19 (ref. 33), building on previously
established internet search algorithms for influenza 34, are included in Public Health England’s
weekly reports35.
Crowdsourcing systems used to elucidate the true burden of disease are also supporting
syndromic surveillance. InfluenzaNet gathers information about symptoms and compliance with
social distancing from volunteers in several European countries through a weekly survey36.
Similar efforts exist in other countries, such as COVID Near You 37 in the USA, Canada and
Mexico. The COVID-19 symptom-tracker app has been downloaded by 3.9 million people in the
UK and USA38 and is feeding into national surveillance. While rapid and informative, these

45
systems can suffer from selection bias, over-interpretation of findings and lack of integration
with official national surveillance that report established surveillance metrics. A fragmented
approach has meant that there are 39 initiatives in the UK alone that are collecting symptoms
from people in the community, with no centralized data collection (M. Edelstein, personal
communication).
Data-visualization tools for decision support
Data dashboards are being used extensively in the pandemic, collating real-time public-health
data, including confirmed cases, deaths and testing figures, to keep the public informed and
support policymakers in refining interventions39,40,41. COVID-19 dashboards typically focus on
time-series charts and geographic maps, ranging from region-level statistics to case-level
coordinate data40,42. Several dashboards show wider responses to the pandemic, such as clinical
trials43, policy and economic interventions44 and responses to social-distancing directives45. Few
dashboards include data on contact tracing or community surveillance from apps or their
effectiveness. Challenges with the quality and consistency of data collection remain a concern.
Lack of official standards and inconsistencies in government reporting of statistics across
countries make global comparisons difficult. Up-to-date and accurate offline statistics from
governments are also not always accessible. Novel visualization approaches are emerging, such
as the NextStrain open repository, which presents viral sequence data to create a global map of
the spread of infection41. This is enabled by open sharing of data and is based on open-source
code. Such speed of the sharing of such data has not been witnessed in previous global
outbreaks46.
Rapid case identification
Early and rapid case identification is crucial during a pandemic 47 for the isolation of cases and
appropriate contacts in order to reduce onward spread and understand key risks and modes of
transmission. Digital technologies can supplement clinical and laboratory notification, through
the use of symptom-based case identification and widespread access to community testing and
self testing, and with automation and acceleration of reporting to public-health databases.
Case identification by online symptom reporting, as seen in Singapore 48 and the UK49, is
traditionally used for surveillance, but it now offers advice on isolation and referrals to further
healthcare services, such as video assessments50 and testing. These services can be rapidly
implemented but must be linked to ongoing public-health surveillance and to action, such as
isolation of cases and quarantining of contacts. Although this approach is suitable for
symptomatic people, widespread testing of people and populations, as well as contact tracing,
has a crucial role in case identification, as an estimated 80% of COVID-19 cases are mild or
asymptomatic19. Sensors, including thermal imaging cameras and infrared sensors, are being
deployed to identify potential cases on the basis of febrile symptoms (for example, at airports).
The large numbers of false-positive and false-negative results mean that this is unlikely to have a
substantial effect beyond increasing awareness51,52. Wearable technologies are also being
explored for monitoring COVID-19 in populations53.
There has been increasing interest in decentralized, digitally connected rapid diagnostic tests to
widen access to testing, increase capacity and ease the strain on healthcare systems and

46
diagnostic laboratories54,55,56. Several point-of-care COVID-19 PCR tests are in development 57,58;
however, their use is still limited to healthcare settings. Drive-through testing facilities and self-
swab kits have widened access to testing. There are inherent delays between sampling, sending
samples to centralized labs, waiting for results and follow-up. By contrast, point-of-care rapid
diagnostic antibody tests could be implemented in home or community or social-care settings
and would give results within minutes. Linking to smartphones with automatic readout through
the use of image processing and machine-learning methods59,60 could allow mass testing to be
linked with geospatial and patient information rapidly reported to both clinical systems and
public-health systems and could speed up results. For this to work effectively, standardization of
data and integration of data into electronic patient records are required.
Identifying past infections by antibody testing is also central to population-level surveillance and
evaluating the efficacy of interventions such as social distancing. So far, point-of-care serology
tests in particular have variable performance, and in light of the possibility that antibody
responses may be short-lived, how such testing can assist in patient management remains
unclear61,62,63. Some have argued that seropositive workers who must remain active in the
economy could receive a digital ‘immunity passport’ to demonstrate protection from infection,
although such a strategy is fraught with operational and clinical uncertainty63,64. Machine-
learning algorithms are also being developed for case identification by automated differentiation
of COVID-19 from community-acquired pneumonia through the use of hospital chest scans by
computerized tomography65,66,67. Further evaluation of their utility is recommended68,69.
Interrupting community transmission
After case identification and isolation, rapid tracing and quarantining of contacts is needed to
prevent further transmission70. In areas of high transmission, the implementation and monitoring
of these interventions is needed at a scale that is becoming increasingly unfeasible or at least
challenging by traditional means71.
Digital contact tracing
Digital contact tracing automates tracing on a scale and speed not easily replicable without
digital tools71. It reduces reliance on human recall, particularly in densely populated areas with
mobile populations. In the COVID-19 pandemic, digital contact-tracing apps have been
developed for use in several countries; these apps rely on approaches and technologies not
previously tried on this scale and are controversial in terms of privacy. Evaluating their accuracy
and effectiveness is essential.
Early digital tracing initiatives raised concerns about privacy72. In South Korea, contacts of
confirmed cases were traced through the use of linked location, surveillance and transaction
data73. In China, the AliPay HealthCode app automatically detected contacts by concurrent
location and automated the enforcement of strict quarantine measures by limiting the transactions
permitted for users deemed to be high risk74,75. More-recent voluntary contact-tracing apps have
been launched in collaboration with governments; these collect location data by global
positioning system (GPS) or cellular networks76, proximity data collected by Bluetooth72,77 or a
combination of those78,79. Concerns have been raised about centralized systems (Fig. 2) and GPS
tracking. Norway halted the use of and data collection from its Smittestopp app after the

47
country’s data-protection watchdog objected to the app’s collection of location data as
‘disproportionate to the task’, and they recommended a Bluetooth-only approach80. Several
international frameworks with varying levels of privacy preservation are emerging, including
Decentralized Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing81, the Pan-European Privacy-Preserving
Proximity Tracing initiative82 and the joint Google–Apple framework83.
Fig. 2: Contact tracing for COVID-19 with Bluetooth-enabled smartphone apps.

Proximity-detecting contact-tracing apps use Bluetooth signals emitting from nearby devices to
record contact events. Centralized apps share information about contacts and contact events with
a central server. The centralized TraceTogether app72 uploads information when a user reports
testing positive for COVID-19. Some centralized Bluetooth-enabled contact-tracing apps upload
the contact graph for all users148. Decentralized apps, such as SwissCovid149, upload only an
anonymous identifier of the user who reports testing positive for COVID-19. This identifier is
then broadcast to all users of the app, which compares the identifier with on-phone contact-event
records.
A key limitation of contact-tracing apps is that they require a large proportion of the population
to use the app and comply with advice for them to be effective in interrupting community
transmission (effective reproduction number (R), <1) 71. Placing this in perspective, national
uptake of the TraceTogether app in Singapore had reached only 30% as of June 2020 (ref. 72).
Adoption is also limited by smartphone ownership, user trust, usability and handset
compatibility. Key practical issues remain, such as understanding which contacts are deemed to
be close enough for transmission and when exposure time is considered long enough to trigger
an alert. System effectiveness in identifying transmission events is not well described, and it is
therefore arguable that human interpretation is still important.
Evaluating interventions through the use of mobility data
Aggregated location data collected by smartphones via GPS, cellular network and Wi-Fi can
monitor real-time population flows84, identify potential transmission hotspots and give insight

48
into the effectiveness of public-health interventions such as travel restrictions on actual human
behavior. Access to mobility data is a major challenge, and these approaches have raised ethical
and privacy concerns85.
Mobility data with privacy-preserving aggregation steps have recently been made available by
several technology and telecom companies for the purposes of COVID-19 control; however, the
datasets are limited and there is no long-term commitment in place for data sharing. Daily
aggregated origin-destination data from Baidu86 are being used to evaluate the effect of travel
restrictions87 and quarantine measures88 on COVID-19 transmission in China. Analysis of the
location data of Italian smartphone users estimated a reduction of 50% in the total trips between
Italian provinces in the week after the announcement of lockdown on 12 March 2020 (ref. 89).
Google has released weekly mobility reports with sub-national granularity, including breakdown
by journey type and destination (such as workplaces and parks), and has made their dataset
publicly downloadable90. Apple has similarly released a dataset with daily figures for mobility
and assumed method of transport91. There is no standardization of these datasets between
providers, however, and not all countries or regions are included in these datasets.
Assessing local differences in mobility and contact patterns may be critical for predicting the
heterogeneity of transmission rates between different communities and in different regions in
which household size and age-stratified contact patterns may differ. This contextual information
can provide insight into the effect of interventions to slow transmission, including the impact of
handwashing92, social distancing and school closures93. The monitoring of social-distancing
measures could also be used to forecast health-system demands94 and will be important in
assessing the easing of restrictions when appropriate. Concerns have been raised over breaches
of civil liberties and privacy when people are tracked to monitor adherence to quarantine and
social distancing, including the use of wearable devices95 and drones96.
Public communication: informing populations
Effective implementation of interventions during a pandemic relies on public education and
cooperation, supported by an appropriate communications strategy that includes active
community participation to ensure public trust. With 4.1 billion people accessing the internet 97
and 5.2 billion unique mobile subscribers15, targeted communication through digital platforms
has the potential to rapidly reach billions and encourage community mobilization (Fig. 3). Key
challenges persist, including the rise of potentially harmful misinformation98,99 and digital
inequalities100 (discussed below).
Fig. 3: The global reach of mobile phones to areas affected by COVID-19.

49
Mobile subscriptions per 100 people (blue; International Telecoms Union150, 2018) and reported
COVID-19 cases by country (red; WHO151, 8 June 2020). COVID-19 is a global pandemic, yet
some countries may be better resourced than others to respond with digital health interventions.
There may be intra-country inequalities in mobile subscription rates. Case detection and
reporting practices differ among countries, with variable under-reporting of true cumulative case
counts.
Online data and social media have had an ongoing, important role in public communication101
since the first reports of an unusual influenza-like illness resistant to conventional treatment
methods emerged in China102. Public-health organizations and technology companies are
stepping up efforts to mitigate the spread of misinformation103,104 and to prioritize trusted news
sites; for example, Google’s SOS alert intervention 105 prioritizes the WHO and other trusted
sources at the top of search results. There are few reports about the impact of these
interventions106,107 and difficulties in defining misinformation108. A United Nations study found
that 86% of member states had placed COVID-19 information on national websites by early
April 2020 (ref. 109), and many are using text messaging to reach populations who do not have
access to the internet. Chat-bots are also providing information to reduce the burden on non-
emergency health-advice call centers110, and clinical practice is being transformed by the rapid
adoption of remote health-service delivery, including telemedicine, especially in primary care 50
Digital communication platforms are also supporting adherence to social-distancing measures.
Video conferencing is allowing people to work and attend classes from home 111, online services
are supporting mental health112 and digital platforms are enabling community-mobilization
efforts by providing ways to assist those in need113. Nevertheless, the security and privacy of
freely available communication platforms remains a concern, particularly for the flow of
confidential healthcare information.
Future directions
Digital technologies join a long line of public-health innovations that have been at the heart of
disease-prevention-and-containment strategies for centuries. Public health has been slower to
take up digital innovations than have other sectors, with the first WHO guidelines on digital
health interventions for health-system strengthening published in 2019 (refs. 114,115). The
50
unprecedented humanitarian and economic needs presented by COVID-19 are driving the
development and adoption of new digital technologies at scale and speed. We have highlighted
the potential of digital technologies to support epidemiological intelligence with online datasets,
identify cases and clusters of infections, rapidly trace contacts, monitor travel patterns during
lockdown and enable public-health messaging at scale. Barriers to the widespread use of digital
solutions remain.
Implementation
Digital technologies cannot operate in isolation and need to be integrated into existing public
healthcare systems116. For example, South Korea and Singapore successfully introduced contact-
tracing apps to support large teams of manual contact tracers as one of many measures, including
strict isolation of cases and quarantine73.
Digital data sources, like any data source, need to be integrated and interoperable, such as with
electronic patient records. Analysis and use of these data will depend on the digital infrastructure
and readiness of public-health systems, spanning secondary, primary and social-care systems.
The logistics of delivery to ensure population impact are often given too little attention and can
lead to over-focus on the individual technology and not its effective operation in a system. The
coordination of interventions is also a challenge, with multiple symptom-reporting sites in a
single country, which risks fragmentation.
Looking ahead, there is a need for a systems-level approach for the vision of the ideal fit-for-
purpose digital public-health system117 that links symptom-tracking apps, rapid testing and case
isolation, contact tracing and monitoring of aggregated population-mobility levels, access to care
and long-term follow-up and monitoring, with public communication (Fig. 4). These types of
integrated online care pathways are not new concepts, having been shown to be highly
acceptable and feasible for other infectious diseases, such as chlamydia118.
Fig. 4: The flow of information in a digitally enabled and integrated public-health system
during an infectious-disease outbreak.

51
Digital data are created by the public, both at the population level and at the individual level, for
epidemiological intelligence and public-health interventions, and for the support of clinical case
management. They are also informed by conventional surveillance via laboratory and clinical
notification. This feeds into public-health decision-making and communication with the public
through digital channels. Other relevant sources of information include population, demographic,
economic, social, transport, weather and environmental data.
Data sharing and data quality
Big-data and artificial-intelligence approaches are only as good as the empirical datasets that are
put into them, yet detailed public-health and private datasets are often inaccessible, due to
privacy and security concerns, and often lack standardized formats or are incomplete.
Researchers are calling for technology and telecom companies to share their data in a
‘proportionate, ethical and privacy-preserving manner’85,119,120, often citing a moral imperative
for these companies to contribute where there is justification for data use. Some companies are
making subsets of aggregated data available86,90,91,121,122. These data are not consistent and are
not provided within the same timeframe, and there is no standard format or long-term
commitment. Researcher-led international collaborations have aimed to aggregate multiple
international data sources of voluntarily reported information41,123.
Equally, governments should provide much greater transparency in their datasets, including
epidemiological data and risk factors for acquisition, with downloadable formats for researchers.
Several governments have made available de-personalized individual-level datasets for research
purposes124,125, although this raises potential privacy concerns. Open-source data, code and
scientific methods are being rapidly and widely shared online, including increased use of
preprints, which speed up data availability but lack peer review 126.
Evidence of effectiveness and regulation
Evidence of the effectiveness of any new technology is needed for wider adoption, but as the
current pandemic is ongoing, many digital technologies have not yet been peer-reviewed, been
integrated into public-health systems, undergone rigorous testing127 or been evaluated by digital
health-evidence frameworks, such as the evidence standards framework for digital health
technologies of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence 128. Contact-tracing apps
have been launched in at least 40 countries129, but there is currently no evidence of the
effectiveness of these apps130, such as the yield of identified cases and contacts, costs,
compliance with advice, empirical estimates of a reduction in the R value or a comparison with
traditional methods. Although it is challenging, due to the urgency of the pandemic, evaluation
of the effectiveness of interventions is essential. Researchers, companies and governments
should publish the effectiveness of their technologies in peer-reviewed journals and through
appropriate clinical evaluation.
There is an urgent need for coordinated international digital public-health strategies, but these
have been slow to emerge. On 22 March 2020, the WHO release a draft of its global strategy on
digital health for 2020–2024 (ref. 131). On 8 April, the European Union called for a pan-European
approach on the use of apps and mobile data for COVID-1982,132.

52
Legal, ethical and privacy concerns
Highly granular or personal data for public-health surveillance raises legal concerns133, ethical
concerns134,135 and security and privacy concerns136. Not all digital interventions have allowed
consensual adoption or have made the option of consent for specific purposes explicit 75, and
some have been used to enforce measures as well as to monitor them. In many cases, widespread
adoption is related to effectiveness, which highlights the need for public trust and engagement.
There is concern that emergency measures set precedent and may remain in place beyond the
emergency, which will lead to the ongoing collection of information about private citizens with
no emergency-related purpose137,138. All systems will need to be ‘proofed’ against invasions of
privacy and will need to comply with appropriate legal, ethical and clinical governance75. Data
can be shared under a legal contract for a well-defined purpose and time, with requirements for
independent audit139 to ensure data are not used for purposes outside of the pandemic. Dynamic
consent processes could also allow users to share their data, and privacy-preserving technologies,
such as differential privacy and homomorphic encryption, could ensure that access is possible
only for specific purposes and is available in a tamper-proof manner13,140 to allow auditing.
Inequalities and the digital divide
In 2018, the World Health Assembly Resolution on Digital Health recognized the value of digital
technologies in advancing universal health coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals.
Although trends are narrowing, today there remains a digital divide, and 51% of the world’s
population does not subscribe to the mobile internet 15. The lack of access to mobile
communications is seen in low- and middle-income countries, although people with lower socio-
economic status in high-income countries are also affected141. The Pew Research Center reported
large disparities between people 18–29 years of age and those over 50 years of age in their
mobile-communication access142. There are also reports of restricted mobile internet access, such
as in areas of Myanmar, which have left some populations unware of the pandemic143. This
outbreak has also disproportionately affected some communities, such as Black and minority
ethnic groups, more than others144. It is therefore essential to develop tools and messaging that
are accessible100 and can be tailored to specific risks, languages and cultural contexts.
Workforce and organizational barriers
The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the need for government leadership to
accelerate the evaluation and adoption of digital technologies. Successful implementation
strategies will require carefully accelerated and coordinated policies, with collaboration among
multiple areas of governments, regulators, companies, non-governmental organizations and
patient groups. Public health has long been under-funded compared with the funding of other
areas of health145. Long-term changes will necessitate investment in national and international
digital centers of excellence, with the necessary balance of partners and pre-agreed access to
digital datasets. A substantial investment in workforce education and skills is essential for
growing digital public-health leadership146.
Conclusion
The COVID-19 pandemic is ongoing, and it is too early to fully quantify the added value of
digital technologies to the pandemic response. While digital technologies offer tools for

53
supporting a pandemic response, they are not a silver bullet. The emerging consensus is that they
have an important role in a comprehensive response to outbreaks and pandemics, complementing
conventional public-health measures, and thereby contribute to reducing the human and
economic impact of COVID-19. Cost-effectiveness and sustainability will require systems-level
approaches to building digital online care pathways that link rapid and widespread testing with
digital symptom checkers, contact tracing, epidemiological intelligence and long-term clinical
follow up. The COVID-19 pandemic has confirmed not only the need for data sharing but also
the need for rigorous evaluation and ethical frameworks with community participation to evolve
alongside the emerging field of mobile and digital healthcare. Building public trust through
strong communication strategies across all digital channels and demonstrating a commitment to
proportionate privacy are imperative147.
The future of public health is likely to be increasingly digital, and recognizing the importance of
digital technology in this field and in pandemic preparedness planning has become urgent. Key
stakeholders in the digital field, such as technology companies, should be long-term partners in
preparedness rather than being partners only when emergencies are ongoing. Viruses know no
borders and, increasingly, neither do digital technologies and data. There is an urgent need for
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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Research Methodology

When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out earlier this year, much of the world moved online,

accelerating a digital transformation that has been underway for decades. Children with at-home

Internet access began attending class remotely; many employees started working from home; and

numerous firms adopted digital business models to maintain operations and preserve some

revenue flows. Meanwhile, mobile applications were developed to help “track and trace” the

development of the pandemic; and researchers employed artificial intelligence (AI) to learn more

about the virus and accelerate the search for a vaccine. Internet traffic in some countries

increased by up to 60% shortly after the outbreak, underscoring the digital acceleration that the

pandemic sparked. While these activities demonstrate the tremendous potential of the digital

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transformation, the pandemic has also accentuated the gaps that remain. Although some digital

divides have narrowed fast in recent years, others have not followed the same pace, leaving some

behind in the COVID-induced digital acceleration. Moreover, the increased reliance on digital

solutions has added new urgency to concerns around privacy and digital security. This presents

countries with a major challenge. It is unlikely that economies and societies will return to “pre-

COVID” patterns; the crisis has vividly demonstrated the potential of digital technologies and

some changes may now be too deep to reverse. Faced with a future where jobs, education, health,

government services and even social interactions may be more dependent on digital technologies

than ever before, failing to ensure widespread and trustworthy digital access and effective use

risks deepening inequalities, and may hinder countries’ efforts to emerge stronger from the

pandemic.

1.1 Six Good Reasons Why the Internet Is Good

According to a Pew January 2014 survey, American adult Internet usage has increased about 73
percent since the 1995. Americans live at least some portion of their lives online. While some
might claim the Internet is chaining us to our devices, causing us to shun human contact -- and
sometimes sunshine -- the Internet has also given us new ways to communicate, learn, and
explore the world at large.
Sharing and the New Media
Anyone can share information with the click of a mouse because of the Internet. Digital media
are easy to share and easy to create. A content creator needs a digital camera and an Internet
connection to upload his next movie; YouTube allowed beauty guru Michelle Phan to launch a
beauty empire from her living room. Even as traditional media expanded their reach into

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consumers' homes through the Internet, new platforms emerged online like Netflix, Amazon
Prime, and HBO Go. According to Forbes, Netflix has outpaced cable companies in viewers.

You've Got Mail

An Internet connection provides a channel for deepening human connections across the globe.
Staying in touch with your kid in college or your family on another continent is a snap with
email. The low cost of communicating on the Internet has also revolutionized telephonic and
televideo service. Next time you need to talk to a friend or schedule a job interview, make it face
to face. Services like Skype and Facetime make distance irrelevant. Friends across the globe can
engage in conversation in the comfort of their own homes.
Social Networks
Social media have made it easier to connect with other people and expand your social circle --
which need not depend on who you meet face to face in your everyday life. Not only can you
now contact anyone with an Internet connection, you can watch their lives unfold in real time,
and record the events in yours. Vacation photos go up on Facebook and Instagram, and dates are
scheduled on Tinder. Social networks enable users to share more parts of their lives than ever
before.
Beyond the Bank
Digital money makes it easier for anyone to facilitate financial transactions. Whether you use
PayPal or Venmo, the Internet has lowered the cost of doing business. If you need some help
starting a business or funding a great idea, crowdfunding sites like Indiegogo can help anyone

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with a compelling story get started. Thanks to the Internet, new financial tools are changing the
way we think about money and doing business.
The Sharing Economy
Sharing economies are making the way people live their lives more efficient. Traditional
businesses are facing the innovations that peer-to-peer communication and knowledge-sharing
bring to the economy. Thanks to Uber, for example, cars that otherwise would travel half-empty
are making money. AirBNB allows individual to make extra income on an empty room. The
Internet allows individuals to expand their reach into new markets, improving the condition of
their bank accounts in the process.
Education
One of the most valuable things the Internet has brought us is a new and improved access to
education. Students of all ages and abilities need not depend on conventional classrooms to learn.
Students supplement classroom learning with Skype tutors or a review session with an online
video tutorial. The Internet has helped democratize education. For example, the New York
TImes reported, Google has been working on ways to bring the Internet to remote areas of
Africa, providing small, marginal villages with new ways of gaining access to information and
working and communicating over long distances with friends, colleagues and family.

1.2 Important Services Provided by the Internet

In this modern world, the Internet has become essential to living, working and easily
communicating with people, whether in the next room or on the other side of the world. Some
important services provided by the Internet have become commonplace, like email, the World
Wide Web and easy, instant access to all types of information. These now common services
allow people to become a part of the much bigger world. Communication, education, e-
commerce and unlimited access to information found on the Internet provide innumerable
benefits.
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web and the Internet function together but are not the same thing. The World
Wide Web functions as the part of the Internet accessible to users. The Internet serves as a vast
electronic communications network and the World Wide Web makes navigation on the Internet
easier by utilizing hypertext links and graphical user interfaces between different addresses on
computers around the world. Think of the Internet as providing the foundation and structure
while the Web uses the Internet to provide communications, information and access to all sorts
of digital services.

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The Internet provides easy access to many important services.
Electronic Mail
More commonly known as email, electronic mail started as an afterthought to the Internet.
Today, email holds the number one position as the most popular service offered on the Internet.
A protocol for sending, receiving and storing electronic messages, email has become the
preferred method of communication. The U.S. Postal Service handles around 200 billion pieces
of mail each year. Email service on the Internet handles around 247 billion emails every day.
Health Information Access
Individual computers may remotely access information stored on other computers or servers
anywhere in the world in a matter of seconds. The Pew Research Center estimates that 59% of
adults go on the Internet to seek health information. 80% of caregivers have access to the
Internet and use that access to health information to assist with their day-to-day job duties.
Internet access to health information may improve quality of care, provide 24-hour access to
medical or health information and allow more efficient handling of specific health issues.
E-Commerce
The ability to do business without the usual constraints of time or distance make e-commerce
one of the most important services provided by the Internet. With the single click of a mouse,
online customers can purchase almost anything day or night from the comfort of their own home.
Since human interaction and the need for an actual brick-and-mortar location do not figure into
the e-commerce equation, doing business on the Internet does not cost as much. This levels the
business playing field and allows small business to compete with large corporations.

1.3 The Advantages of Electronic Communication Devices

Electronic communication uses computers, cell phones and other devices to transmit messages. It
has developed into an everyday part of millions of people's lives. As the technology develops

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more sophisticated electronic devices for communication are introduced frequently paving the
way for a greater variety of ways to communicate electronically.
Convenience
Convenience is a major factor in the use of electronic communication devices. There is a greater
level of ease attached to the use of the Internet and cell phones to communicate. Email enables
you to send messages without much movement and effort compared to sending mail by post. The
Internet is also a wealth of resources such as books, journals, and online stores where you can
access anything you want. Cell phones are a source of convenience; they allow you to make a
call to anyone irrespective of time, and distance.
Accessibility
Electronic communication devices are easily accessible to people who would otherwise not have
other modes of communication. In developing countries people who never owned a home
telephone have cell phones. Cell phones also continue to evolve at a rapid rate. Many are now
available that provide three or four ways to communicate, such as Internet connections, text
messaging and standard phone links.
Global Connectivity
Global connectivity is the latest phenomenon to arise with the use of electronic media. The
internet, cellphones, and television have influenced the formation of a global culture. People are
able to share fashion trends, activities, news, and current behaviors only by a click of a mouse or
a remote. International news television stations such as CNN enable people to access global
events and news as they unfold, irrespective of their geographical location. Electronic media
enables operators to share information to a global audience; with the use of cellphones it is now
possible to call all over the world and share news as if in the same location.
Networking
The rise of social media enhances networking and friendships around the world. The rise of
networking sites such as Facebook, and Twitter gives rise to worldwide connections and opens
up channels for people to group according to interests. Social media serves as a platform for
users to market talents, and products. With such platforms, there is a rise of new culture and
language common among friends in these networks. The networks have also been used to
propagate social and political movements such as the 2011 Egyptian revolution.

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1.4 What Kind of Jobs Do Robots Do?
Robots perform jobs that humans find dull, dangerous or difficult. Either labor intensive or
mundane, robots can be adapted to a variety of tasks. Industry, farming, medicine, the military,
and space have all seen the expansion of robotics in their practice. The home has also become a
hotbed for technology, as many appliances have now become "smart" devices over the years.
The impact on humans is varied, but the utilization of robots will continue throughout this
century and beyond.
Features
In 1961, General Motors installed the Unimate in a New Jersey factory. This was the first
industrial robot. Created by George Devol, Unimate was designed to weld die-casts onto auto
bodies. This revolutionized the automobile industry and had lasting impact on various other
factories as they took GM's cue and began installing robots of their own.

Today, industrial robots perform a variety of tasks such as spot and gas welding, sealing,
assembly, and handling various tools. Any form of heavy labor can now be performed by a
robot. Companies such as Caterpillar are making headway in automating even more of its heavy
equipment. They have successfully launched the first remote controlled cranes and plan for full
automation by 2021.
Function
Most robots work under the supervision of humans. Farmers have begun to utilize robotic
harvesting equipment to handle a larger volume of land with less human labor. Workers in
dangerous or hazardous environments have begun to utilize remote reconnaissance robots to test
conditions and structural integrity of various environments. The Pioneer robot used at the
Chernobyl disaster site is an example of this. It allowed investigation of the still-radioactive
environment without endangering any human lives.

The United States military has begun to automate much of its forces. With the development of
unmanned aerial reconnaissance vehicles like the Predator, the pilot has been removed from
combat and placed in a safe environment far away. Front line ordinance robots have saved many
lives by remotely detonating improvised explosive devices. The U.S. Navy also plans to turn
portions of its fleet into fully remote controlled vehicles controlled from a central location such
as an aircraft carrier.

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Significance
The robot has permeated its existence inside every home in America. Simple appliances like
toasters, microwaves and stoves are now essentially robots. They are complete with
microprocessors and low-level artificial intelligence designed to prevent damage or fires. The
Roomba, a small robotic vacuum cleaner, has become a highly marketed success with
homemakers, taking on a redundant task with proficiency. "Smart" appliances, such as talking
refrigerators and alarm clocks that walk away from you when you hit snooze, are beginning to
make their way into the marketplace.

Toys have been one of the boons for the robotics industry. Beginning with the success of the
very low-level Furby, toy robots have grown more interactive. They are supplanting other forms
of entertainment for children. Advances in development have made these toys more interactive,
and their learning speed has increased.
Benefits
Humanity as a whole benefits from the existence of robots and their various tasks. This can be
seen most effectively in the medical industry. Remote surgery is a reality due to robotics,
allowing a doctor to perform detailed surgical procedures from anywhere on the planet. The Da
Vinci robotic assistant is the best example of how doctors have implemented this fact.
Laboratories have begun to utilize robots of their own to handle redundant analysis and perform
basic procedures to allow human technicians to focus on other tasks. With the rising demand for
health care, the continued expansion of robots in the medical industry will prove to be a fast
growing field.
Potential
One of the facts of robots in the workplace is their replacement of human beings for certain
tasks. This can be seen most dramatically in space exploration. Missions that used to need a
human to perform are now more conveniently and safely being conducted by robots, either
autonomous or remote controlled from Earth. The Mars landers Spirit and Opportunity have
performed their missions above and beyond what was originally predicted, lasting years longer
than a human expedition could have and retrieving information over greater distances than would
otherwise have been possible. The fact that NASA has chosen to move in the direction of

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unmanned spacecraft and probes has greatly driven down costs. It allowed for more expansive
missions that continue for years.

1.5 What Are the Benefits of Computers in Society?

Ever since the first IBM PC was sold in 1981 and the bundling of Microsoft's Windows
Operating System on subsequent easy-to-use PCs, computers have revolutionized the way
individuals, students and enterprises work, communicate, live, educate and entertain. Computers
are now integral to virtually every possible human and non-human activity. The benefits of
computers to society are manifold.

Woman working on a laptop at her desk

Image Credit: Jacob Ammentorp Lund/iStock/Getty Images

Work
Computers are now used in every domain, field and sector and across industries. They are used
for a variety of tasks, applications and activities and to enhance productivity on all fronts.
Communication
The advent of the Internet and its proliferation have force-multiplied the usage of computers.
People all over the world are able to communicate, engage and interact with each other using IM,
email, blogs, online forums, social media and other options.
Jobs Influence
The widespread use and application of computers has created multiple industries, derived sectors
and professions and facilitated job opportunities for millions of people.

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Entertainment
High-end desktops and full-featured notebook PCs have become all-in-one entertainment
systems for millions of users as they watch movies, sports events and news programs, shop,
socialize, download videos and play games.
Education
Computers have simplified and streamlined the process of education for millions of young teens,
college going students and post-graduates. The use of computers has democratized the influence,
reach and penetration of education and knowledge to students in far-flung and geographically
remote regions.

1.6 Is it Illegal to Access Someone's Facebook Account?

In 2009, the population of Facebook eclipsed the total population of the United States. As we
rely more and more on Facebook as a communications platform, it is important that we also
know fully our legal rights and protections.

History

Digital privacy is a murky legal area.

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Digital privacy is often a murky legal area due to outdated or plainly inapplicable laws written in
the 1980s, well before the advent of social networking. Sociologist Orin Kerr reports that
Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) and Stored Communications Act (SCA) are the
laws largely responsible for safeguarding our privacy online.
Facebook Terms of Service (TOS)

Facebook TOS make it clear that unauthorized access to someone elses accounts will result in
suspension from Facebook.

The Facebook TOS makes it clear that unauthorized access of accounts which belong to someone
else is a violation of their terms of services and will result in suspension from Facebook.
Federal Laws

Originally the ECPA and SCA were meant to protect digital messages.

As mentioned above, the ECPA and SCA are federal laws which protect digital communications.
Originally these laws prevented government access to email and other stored messages, but the
laws have been broadened to legally protect unauthorized access from private individuals.

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Misconceptions

It is always against the law to access someone's stored communications without permission.

Accessing someone's account because you know their Facebook password does not make the
unauthorized intrusion legal. It is always against the law to access someone's stored
communications without permission.
Warning

Accessing someone's digital communications without authorization is always prohibited by law.

Accessing someone's digital communications without authorization is prohibited by law, no

matter the circumstances.

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