Defending against the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak: How can the Internet of Things (IoT) help to save the world?

摘要: The outbreak of a new coronavirus (COVID-19) that originated in Wuhan, China, seems to be unstoppable. The virus has already infected more than 558,502 people around the world, with at least 25,251 deaths as of March 1, 2020 [1, 2]. The outbreak of pneumonia of unknown aetiology started in Wuhan, Hubei province in China [3], linked to the Huanan Seafood Market. The virus is of the genus betacoronavirus and is related to the viruses that cause Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)[4]. The WHO was first alerted on the 31st of December 2019, although several cases of pneumonia of unknown aetiology were detected much earlier (Dec 8, 2019)[5]. This delay in declaring the occurrence of an outbreak and failure to alert international authorities in a timely manner contributed to the uncontrolled spread of the disease. This pandemicis now the focus of global attention.In an effort to mitigate the spread of the virus, China expanded a lockdown of the focal city Wuhan that included 20 cities, and encompassed 56 million individuals. Experts initially raised concerns regarding the sustainability of this effort and have warned that the country was at risk for a repeat of an epidemic similar to the SARS epidemic [6, 7]. At this time it appears that the pandemic is under control in most of China, although criticism remains regarding the use of what some have termed “draconian” measures for stifling its spread.