(Yicai Global) July 8 -- Artificial intelligence and Big Data technologies have played a significant role in halting the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic, especially through the early detection and diagnosis of infections and by tracking patients’ close contacts, a disease control expert told Yicai Global.

Shanghai, a major metropolis with almost 25 million permanent residents, has so far only had 342 cases of community spread due to its quick action in blocking the virus' transmission route, said Wu Fan, deputy dean at the Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University.

“We used Big Data to quickly trace patients’ close contacts,” Wu said. With this technology, we can 100 percent track down the infection source, even if it is an asymptomatic case. This helps to prevent the uncontrollable spread of the virus through communities, she added.

Big Data platforms can compile together isolated cases that easily went undetected in the past, and by noticing their common features, can rapidly work out the source of the infection, she said. AI can also assist in determining the virus’ structure and screening a large number of previously-used drugs.

AI technology can help build models about the development of the epidemic so as to predict future trends and help the government make precise decisions about epidemic prevention and control and allowing businesses to resume operations, she said.

“By gathering the data and examining it closely, we can make more farsighted predictions. For instance, if an infection of a certain type of virus occurred in people previously, we will know whether it can be transmitted to certain animal species,” Wu said.

More biological information will be obtained through Big Data in the future, she added. This will benefit not only the monitoring of virus mutations, but also both medical and vaccine reserves.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor