Connected world makes Coronavirus scarier, helps combat it too

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Sydney, Feb 18 (IANS) The same technological forces that make the Wuhan Coronavirus outbreak a global concern are also key to managing the crisis response, says a top researcher, adding that a connected world makes this coronavirus (COVID-19) scarier but also helps us deal with it.

At a time when globalisation is being sharply questioned, it is important to remember the upsides as well as the downsides of an interconnected world, according to Richard Holden, professor of economics at University of New South Wales (UNSW).

"Radical global interconnectedness makes the world more vulnerable to financial and public health crises. Yet those same forces have also lifted roughly 2 billion people out of extreme poverty in the past 30 years," he said in a university statement.

"Those same technological forces drive the e-commerce platforms, cloud computing and artificial intelligence that help mitigate the effects of these crises," he added.

For example, Alibaba Group -- arguably China's leading e-commerce company -- is using everything from food delivery to cloud computing to help combat the crisis.

Alibaba has encouraged sellers on its platforms to increase the supply of masks and other in-demand equipment. It has also used its influence to discourage the kind of price-gouging often seen during natural disasters.

"On top of that, consider what life is like for about 11 million people in Wuhan, a city where normal life has ground to a halt as people avoid going out. How do they get groceries and other essentials?" asked Holden.

China is Australia's largest source for international students, with nearly 190,000 Chinese studying in its tertiary institutions. China is also Australia's largest source of tourists and biggest trading partner.

"Even if other countries don't have the same level of exposure, the whole world is now radically interconnected. Global supply chains for products from cars to mobile phones run across multiple countries," he noted.

It's worth pausing to reflect on how much worse the quarantine imposed on Wuhan and surrounding areas would be without the technology that makes transport and logistics today so sophisticated.

Leveraging Alibaba's 18 Freshippo techno supermarkets in Wuhan, the group has set up a dedicated food-delivery team to provide free food and safe drinking water to local hospitals, rescue teams, reporters and volunteers.

The group's Amap Taxi operation has organised a volunteer force to provide free transport for all medical staff 24 hours a day.

Alibaba's travel platform "Fliggy" is be used to offer free accommodation to medical staff - a total of more than 10,000 rooms, said Holden.

Alibaba's cloud-computing business Ali Cloud - similar to Amazon Web Services - has helped health authorities track the outbreak and its spread.

It has provided unlimited computing capacity to global medical researchers to accelerate the finding of a cure for the virus.

According to the WHO, the number of confirmed cases globally as on Tuesday was 71,429 including 2,162 while new confirmed cases from China are reported to be 70,635 (2,051 new) and 1,772 deaths (106 new).

--IANS

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