NEWS Around Asia Pacific in seven stories… H E A LT H C A R E
New Role for WhatsApp in Indonesia’s COVID-19 Response
TECHNOLOGY
TECH START-UPS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA TO REACH $1 TRILLION BY 2025 S O UT HEAST ASIA’S technology sector is enjoying a meteoric rise. During 2020 alone, 10 percent of the region’s 400 million internet users came online for the first time, with many start-ups also in the process of officially going public. Consequently, leading Singapore-based venture capital firm Jungle Ventures, forecasts that the region’s start-ups will reach a collective valuation of over one trillion dollars within the next four years. Just last year, Southeast Asian
technology start-ups clocked a combined valuation of $340 billion. In anticipation of over a threefold increase in value, Jungle Venture made these valuations by examining publicly available information from 31 of the region’s most prominent start-ups. This promising trajectory has been aided by a wealth of funding options and the significant interest received from investors looking for the accelerated growth enjoyed by the technology sector, as opposed to traditional bricks-andmortar business.
AC E H ME DI C S in Indonesia are trialling a new virtual lifeline for those self-isolating with COVID-19. Doctors have initiated a monitoring system through WhatsApp in the hope of risking the number of deaths due to the virus. After doctors began to observe that patients in need of hospitalisation were often not seeking medical attention until the 10th or 11th day of having symptoms, by which time many were already experiencing respiratory failure, a WhatsApp monitoring system was suggested. The idea came from Dr. Ferry Dwi Kurniawan, the head of the Aceh branch of the Indonesian Society of Respirology (PDPI), to allow COVID-19 positive patients to consult with a doctor from home, enabling them to decide if hospitalisation is necessary. According to data from the Ministry of Health, Indonesia has reported more than 107,000 deaths resulting from COVID-19 and 3.6 million cases since the beginning of the pandemic. This latest move comes as limited data and underreporting contributes to a distorted or unrealistic figure in the number of deaths for those dying from COVID-19 outside of hospitals.
TECHNOLOGY
TikTok Crowned King of the Apps ACCO R DIN G TO a Nikkei Asia survey, the short-form video sharing platform TikTok, which was developed in China, has officially surpassed Facebook to become the most downloaded social media app in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has been a huge factor in driving usage, with the 6 | APAC Outlook issue 51
number of TikTok users skyrocketing in line with nationwide lockdown restrictions. During this time, the app was the number one download across the US, South America and Europe, in spite of widespread fears concerning data privacy. The international version of TikTok was first launched in 2017, by ByteDance, and has gone on to overtake other major social media platforms in the number of downloads,
including Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger – all of which are owned by Facebook.