Role of Technology in the Era of COVID-19 Pandemic

Definitely, technology just can’t avoid the onset of a pandemic. But it can certainly help us in managing a crisis more effectively. Discussing this as per the current scenario, we all know how badly COVID-19 has impacted our lives, both personal and professional. Meanwhile, in this time of sheer uncertainty and fear, our response to adopt technology is unprecedented.

Let’s get into a detailed perspective on how technology has impacted our lives in the current COVID-19 pandemic:

• Distance Learning

As per the latest survey, around 191 countries have implemented strict policies for the closure of schools and universities. This has, directly or indirectly, impacted close to 1.57 billion students. To cope up with this situation or to make sure that education is not disrupted due to the pandemic, most of the educational institutes have started to offer all their courses online.

Amazingly, the integration of technologies in distant learning include: Augmented Reality, 3D Printing, Virtual Reality, and AI-enabled robots acting as teachers are making this process more interactive and efficient.

• Online Entertainment

If you are among the coterie of avid digital content lovers. You must acquaint that COVID-19 has completely transformed how content is being generated, distributed, and streamed. Online live shows and concerts have gained traction across the world. Most of the film production houses have been releasing their movies via Over the Top (OTT) platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Voot Select, and through others across the globe.

This lockdown that happened through this pandemic has made it easy for audiences to watch their favorite content on OTT platforms irrespective of their time and location. With this, all the OTT platforms have witnessed unprecedented growth in both app downloads and viewership during the lockdown period.

Apart from OTT, many gaming platforms have also witnessed substantial growth in their user base. Even the gaming hours have been increased unprecedentedly. Maybe it is because people are in their homes, or maybe they are playing to kill the COVID-19 stress.

• Contact Tracing Applications

Contact tracing apps like Arogya Setu have assisted in tracking the COVID-19 spread. The particular app has also helped people to track the current situation and educate them to take the necessary precautions to keep this menace at bay.

The facial recognition technology has also helped in identifying people accurately with their mask put on. Even the location of quarantine people is traceable through these apps. The CCTV cameras are also equipped with the facial recognition feature which has helped in identifying infected individuals who tend to break the rules despite being quarantined.

• Contactless Online Deliveries

The online grocery has witnessed some tremendous growth during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the soaring demand amongst consumers. Families with children and older people are now preferring grocery orders online. This paved the way for an unprecedented increase of new users who now tend to prefer online apps for grocery deliveries.

One can also choose their preferred time slot for delivery plus access some free delivery options above a certain amount. This is attracting more and more customers towards online delivery business models.

• Robotics

This is the first time when people have realized how important human interactions are for making things work. The reason is industries (labor-intensive ones) like: Food, Retail, Logistics, and Manufacturing businesses are severely hurt. This resulted in a strong push to implement the usage of robots and also to pace up the robotics research. It has already started and now is being used to clean infected areas and for delivering food to quarantined individuals.

As we know the count of COVID-19 is on the rise, and the number of patients who need medical attention is putting some big pressure on the current healthcare infrastructure. To counter this pressure, remote-controlled robots are being used to helping medical professionals to conduct critical tasks such as swab collection for conducting the virus detection test.

Also, drones are being used for food deliveries, tracking population, test kits delivery, spraying

disinfectant, and for delivering the medicines to the quarantine areas.

• Fitness & Health Apps

The fitness and health industry is on a new high during this pandemic. Some amazing alternatives are being introduced by health and fitness apps to help people remain fit in the comfort of staying indoors. Many fitness and health apps have started live customized workout sessions on their apps and social media platforms.

• Work From Home (WFH)

It has become a survival tactic for almost all the IT companies out there. One step further from survival, some are finding it more efficient and a tool of cost-cutting, as it saves their capital expenditure to maintain an office premise. Yes, this working style has ensured many businesses continue to assist professionals in adapting themselves to work from the home scenario through virtual meetings and cloud conferences.

Some are holding this term ‘as a blessing in disguise’ as it ensures that deliverables are not delayed.

A Road to Summary 

Without a shadow of a doubt, COVID-19 has proved that technology innovations have been helping in managing the epidemic in a more efficient and scalable manner. But a lesson we all have to learn from the COVID-19 pandemic is to stay prepared in advance against any such crisis at both an individual and collective level. Technology is and will get more advanced by the time or grow more exponentially. But the ultimate onus is in us to adapt to changes in technology faster and continue to innovate better to prepare better. For more info click this link: https://mobcoder.com/services