The Role of Digital Technology in Curbing COVID-19

Abstract

Background: Using digital technology to provide support, medical consultations, healthcare services, and to track the spread of the coronavirus has been identified as an important solution to curb the transmission of the virus. Objective: This report aims to (1) summarise the digital technologies used during the COVID-19 pandemic to mitigate the transmission of the virus; (2) establish the extent to which digital technology applications have helped to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, and (3) explore the facilitators and barriers that impact the usability of digital technologies throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A rapid electronic search was conducted of available records up to July 2021 on the medical database using the keywords “Digital technology”, “COVID-19”, “Health innovations” and “Health informatics” , “ Health economics” and “Health policy” and their combinations. Results: An increasing number and variety of digital health applications have been available throughout the pandemic, such as telehealth, smartphone mobile health apps, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. Each technology has played a particular role in curbing COVID-19 transmission. Different users have gained benefits from using digital technology during the COVID-19 pandemic and different determinants have contributed to accelerating the wheel of digital technology implementation during the pandemic. Conclusion: Digital health during the COVID-19 pandemic has evolved very rapidly, with different applications and roles aimed at curbing the pandemic.