Inspiration
Introduction Covid-19 is devastating. The World Health Organisation (WHO) announced on 12th of March, 2020 that the Covid-19 outbreak has become a pandemic. Now there are 191 countries worldwide having confirmed cases. Until now, more than 740,000 people were infected and more than 35,000 people have died from the infection. Covid-19 is caused by SARS-CoV-2, a new strain of coronavirus. There is no preventive or specific treatment for Covid-19. An effective model for predicting the disease outbreak is crucial to effectively managing. Currently, the predicting models are only based on a single measure; however, such measure does not reveal underlying independent factors during the course of the outbreak. We have observed each country has taken different steps to combat the outbreak and those different strategies may impact the outcome. Potentially, a readout that accurately characterizes the pandemic is the only way to slow down the current outbreak of Covid-19. In this project, we aim to show how effective different policies containing the outbreak are in different countries. For instance, despite its proximity and close economic activities with China and is excluded from the WHO, Taiwan has demonstrated its strength and success in combating the spreading of Covid-19. Taiwan has maintained a low number of confirmed cases and detected most cases of possible community spread. We wish to mirror the successful experience of fighting the Covid-19 outbreak that can be adapted to other countries. Here, we implement and optimize the model for analyzing the effectiveness of different policies for defeating the outbreak. Thirteen countries with different strategies were analyzed. Based on the result, we determine the best ways to overcome the outbreak are. We further suggest a smart contact tracing and quarantine system to identify and isolate suspicious cases as much as possible. The outcomes of this project will provide a novel way of using real-world data to conduct “virtual categorization” that can reveal early, effective indications of combating outbreak, predict disease progression, and monitor the effects of measures.
Here, we divide our project into two sub-projects:
Project 1 focuses on analyzing the effectiveness of policy tools to contain the outbreak. We will analyze 13 countries with different strategies, and determine what is the best way to contain the virus.
Project 2 is to develop a smart contact tracing and quarantine system to identify and isolate suspicious cases as much as possible. We will show how to do an exhaustive contact tracing and effective isolation with the aid of technology to prevent Covid-19 patients from going to the community and infecting other people. With good personal hygiene, social distancing, and mask-wearing if necessary, the impact of Covid-19 can be reduced and buying time for us to develop effective drugs or vaccines.
What it does
We aimed to understand how are the impacts of government policies on preventing the disease spreading, and ascertain the most efficient policies that will really help the situation
How we built it
We divided the policies into 8 different categories based on their strategy, then collected real-world data and integrated the timelines of the policy applied and the daily/accumulated confirmed case.
Accomplishments that we've proud of
The team is composed of 11 international multidisciplinary experts, currently located in Taiwan, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland. We successfully managed to work together to complete this project despite the difference in time zone and professional backgrounds.
What we learned
Preventive strategies are game-changing action. Strengthened public health education makes the difference! It is essential to have immediate action See more details in our slides :)
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