The Vital Role Of Big Data In The Fight Against Coronavirus

Topic 1: The Vital Role Of Big Data In The Fight Against Coronavirus

Name: 陳美菁
Student ID: D0773630
Author: Bernard Marr

Taiwan is 81 miles off the coast of mainland China and was expected to have the second-highest number of cases of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) due to its proximity and the number of flights between China. The country has 23 million citizens of which 850,000 reside in and 404,000 work in China. In 2019, 2.71 million visitors from mainland China traveled to Taiwan. As such, Taiwan has been on constant alert and ready to act on epidemics arising from China ever since the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic in 2003. Given the continual spread of COVID-19 around the world, understanding the action items that were implemented quickly in Taiwan and assessing the effectiveness of these actions in preventing a large-scale epidemic may be instructive for other countries.

COVID-19 occurred just before the Lunar New Year during which time millions of Chinese and Taiwanese were expected to travel for the holidays. Taiwan quickly mobilized and instituted specific approaches for case identification, containment, and resource allocation to protect the public health. Taiwan leveraged its national health insurance database and integrated it with its immigration and customs database to begin the creation of big data for analytics because it generated real-time alerts during a clinical visit based on travel history and clinical symptoms to aid case identification. It also used new technology, including QR code scanning and online reporting of travel history and health symptoms to classify travelers' infectious risks based on on-flight origin and travel history in the past 14 days. Persons with low risk (no travel to level 3 alert areas) were sent a health declaration border pass via SMS (short message service) messaging to their phones for faster immigration clearance; for those with higher risk (recent travel to level 3 alert areas) were quarantined at home and tracked through their mobile phone to ensure that they remained at home during the incubation period.

By using the Taiwan citizens' household registration system and the foreigners' entry card allowed the government to track individuals at high risk because of recent travel history from the past 14 days in affected areas. Those identified as high risk (under home quarantine) were monitored electronically through their mobile phones. The NHIA database was also being expanded to cover the past 14-day travel history for patients from China, Hong Kong, and Macau. Meanwhile, the Entry Quarantine System was launched on February 14, so travelers can complete the health declaration form by scanning a QR code that leads to an online form, either prior to departure from or upon arrival at a Taiwan airport. A mobile health declaration pass was then sent via SMS to phones using a local telecom operator, which allowed for faster immigration clearance for those with minimal risk. This system was created within a 72-hour period. Taiwan's government then announced that all hospitals, clinics, and pharmacies in Taiwan would have access to patients’ travel histories.

The Taiwan's government learned from its 2003 SARS experience and established a public health response mechanism for enabling rapid actions for the next crisis. By utilizing big data and machine learning, Taiwan was regarded as the best country to maintain the COVID-19 and has the lowest Coronavirus case. The use of big data and machine learning has helped Taiwan to control the spread of the Coronavirus epidemic in its country. Well-trained and experienced teams of officials were quick to recognize the crisis and activated emergency management structures to address the emerging outbreak. In a crisis, governments often make difficult decisions under uncertainty and time constraints. These decisions must be both culturally appropriate and sensitive to the population. Through early recognition of the crisis, daily briefings to the public, and simple health messaging, the government was able to reassure the public by delivering timely, accurate, and transparent information regarding the evolving epidemic. Taiwan is an example of how a society can respond quickly to a crisis and protect the interests of its citizens.

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