Digital technologies in the public-health response to COVID-19
Top Cited Papers
- 7 August 2020
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Nature Medicine
- Vol. 26 (8), 1183-1192
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-1011-4
Abstract
Digital technologies are being harnessed to support the public-health response to COVID-19 worldwide, including population surveillance, case identification, contact tracing and evaluation of interventions on the basis of mobility data and communication with the public. These rapid responses leverage billions of mobile phones, large online datasets, connected devices, relatively low-cost computing resources and advances in machine learning and natural language processing. This Review aims to capture the breadth of digital innovations for the public-health response to COVID-19 worldwide and their limitations, and barriers to their implementation, including legal, ethical and privacy barriers, as well as organizational and workforce barriers. The future of public health is likely to become increasingly digital, and we review the need for the alignment of international strategies for the regulation, evaluation and use of digital technologies to strengthen pandemic management, and future preparedness for COVID-19 and other infectious diseases.Keywords
Funding Information
- RCUK | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/R00529X/1, EP/R00529X/1, EP/R00529X/1, EP/R00529X/1, EP/R00529X/1, EP/R00529X/1, EP/R00529X/1, EP/R00529X/1, EP/R018391/1, EP/R00529X/1, EP/R018391/1, EP/R00529X/1)
- RCUK | MRC | Medical Research Foundation (MC_PC_19070)
- RCUK | Medical Research Council (MC_PC_19070)
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