The Covid-19 pandemic has focused worldwide attention on how technology, particularly the Internet of Things (IoT), and data gathering can enable the identification of unusual trends before they become a problem and generate more accurate modelling.

There is currently a lack of real-time data on the number of coronavirus-infected people, the rate at which the virus is spreading and how it is being transmitted in the environment, which limits the amount of vital response planning and where to focus resources during the Covid-19 crisis.

“There is currently an inability to remotely monitor and service key equipment and machinery, especially if [these are] part of critical infrastructure, and there is an overburdened medical system and [an urgent] need to monitor patients remotely to balance care with the availability of beds,” says Eseye Africa regional director Jeremy Potgieter.

Emerging IoT technology has the power to “connect the dots” between the devices used in everyday life, industry, healthcare and in cities, with the potential to assist in the mitigation of the impact of global pandemics.

He cites examples such as smart city cameras that detect the number of patients with high temperatures and devices such as a ‘smart ring’ that can identify Covid-19 symptoms in a wearer, as well as the ability to identify hot spots where resources or measures need to be focused.

Data from remote devices all across the world can be managed and interpreted quickly and be made accessible to scientists through cloud computing.

Fully IoT-connected devices enable fewer on-site visits by engineers to critical infrastructure and an improved understanding to solve technical issues remotely, boosting uptime and safeguarding employees from making risky site visits.

However, Potgieter says much of the world’s infrastructure remains unconnected or provides little in the way of remote diagnostics and status updates, resulting in an inability to fix issues remotely.

Despite this, the Covid-19 crisis is forcing businesses to innovate at an “incredible” rate, he comments.

“From coworking apps allowing us to work remotely and online shopping orders to help us stay at home to robots treating critically ill patients and deep-cleaning the streets, the world and people are having to adapt fast in multiple ways – both big and small,” he said, noting that retailers and other non-essential businesses are now also having to rethink their business models in order to generate revenue.

While artificial intelligence, IoT and other technologies are making it easier and faster to identify patterns, adapt to challenges and reduce social contact, gathering data on a global scale from people, healthcare devices and the wider world is essential to limiting the potentially devastating impact of this and future pandemics.

As healthcare services’ limited resources are stretched beyond capacity during a pandemic, IoT can help with remote patient monitoring, thereby freeing up beds and reducing the risk of spreading the virus, while ensuring that, should the patient’s condition deteriorate, he or she can quickly be identified and brought in to hospital.

Those with connected devices operating during the Covid-19 outbreak should make their data available to researchers, while governments need to look at ways in which existing data sources can be leveraged in the future to create a centralised monitoring dashboard that will inform their decisions.

“The more data we gather on what happens when a pandemic occurs, the better we can become at modelling the outcome.”