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CHINA By mustering resources at its disposal and deploying the latest technology, China has mitigated the effects of COVID-19 to a significant extent and profiled people at risk. By Aditya Chaturvedi
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he similarities in facts and fiction aren’t generally as obvious as in the case of 2011 Hollywood film Contagion, which today appears to be hauntingly prescient —almost like a chronicle of a pandemic foretold. Mass quarantines, food scarcity, endless queues and ghost towns due to a virus outbreak in the film make you feel as if we are living in a time that was well scripted several years ago. What is different, though, is the availability and use of sophisticated technologies that can, and in a lot of ways are, proving to be critical in combating the Novel Coronavirus and reclaiming our spaces. Like Black Deaths in Europe during the medieval ages or the Spanish Flu outbreak in 1918, COVID-19 has exposed human fragility, along with the downside of an interconnected world. The only reprieve, thanks to technological advancements, is that we are 18
www.geospatialworld.net | Mar-Apr 2020
more equipped than any era in the history to respond to a pandemic. During the time of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak in 2002, it took scientists more than a year to decode the genome of the virus, whereas thanks to tech advancements, the Coronavirus genome was identified within a month. With despair lingering and the world in disarray, had it not been for effective and advanced technology solutions, we would have been staring at an unmanageable crisis. China illustrates this case. By mustering resources at its disposal and deploying the latest technology, the country has mitigated the effects of the virus to a significant extent and profiled people at risk. Today, several affected countries are looking at the Chinese model of best use of technology to save their populations in this race against time.
Positioning technologies It is known that positioning technologies play a crucial role during the time of crisis and disasters. Government agencies and first responders on the ground require precise positions to accurately assess the situation, pinpoint the most risky areas and carry out relief and rehabilitation efforts accordingly. In the case of epidemics and outbreaks too, GNSS comes in quite handy. In China, BeiDou, the country’s own GNSS constellation, helped track patients and affected places, thus containing the virus, apart from analyzing the pattern of the outbreak. With the help of reliable data and precise mapping and imagery, China could build thousands of new makeshift hospitals across the country. BeiDou is being used by decision-makers for transportation planning. Logistics companies are using GNSS terminals to help ply essential relief goods faster. BeiDou also has
