Role ofblockchain in combating covid-19
The medical industry is searching for new technologies to control and monitor the COVID-19 (coronavirus pandemic) that has hit the world. To monitor and control the spread of any virus, it is essential to have reliable and trustworthy data. The current technology does not have the trustworthy data necessary to provide accurate information about the new coronavirus outbreak or widespread. Blockchain technology is a digital ledger made up of distributed, decentralized, and sometimes public data. Blockchain technology consists of three main parts: blocks, miners, nodes, and miners. Each block contains information about the data, nonce, and hash.
What is Blockchain?
Blockchain is sometimes called Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and makes any digital asset's history unalterable and transparent by using cryptographic hashing and decentralization.
An example of how blockchain technology can be understood is Google Docs. The document is not copied or transferred but distributed. This creates a distributed distribution chain that allows everyone to have access to the document at once. This ensures that no one is left waiting for changes to be made by another party. All modifications to the document are recorded in real-time, making them transparent.
Blockchain is more complex than a Google Doc, however, the analogy works because it highlights three key ideas about the technology.
Blockchain Technology is Important
Blockchain technology allows for secure, distributed, encrypted, and secure digital transaction logging. Blockchain technology is expected to revolutionize computing in many areas, especially those where centralization is undesirable and privacy is crucial. The blockchain network can be used to track the spread and control of coronavirus infections by citizens using their mobile phones. Blockchain technology has the potential to protect patient information. It will make it easier to track drug trials, record all fundraising activities and track donations.
Blockchain technology allows for digital data storage of COVID-19 patient records
One of the major problems during a pandemic is the lack of reliable and current data regarding the spread and outbreak of novel coronavirus. This problem can be solved very efficiently by blockchain technology. This technology has many advantages, including the ability to provide verifiable and safe data through its distributed ledger technology and peer-to-peer networking features.
This technology was instrumental in the recording of patient information, including COVID-19 symptoms, locations, history, and other health conditions, with high privacy. This technology has been used by many platforms to share valuable information about COVID-19. MiPasa was launched by the World Health Organization (WHO), in March 2020. It's a platform that uses blockchain technology to facilitate the sharing of private information between individuals, health authorities, and institutions. Privacy-enabled self-reporting is also possible through this platform. This allows public health officials as well as individuals to upload data regarding different infections and precise locations.
Blockchain technology to support public surveillance during the COVID-19 pandemic
Blockchain technology can track patients' movements and provide real-time information about affected areas. This data can be used to direct fighting efforts. This technology can also be used to track the movement of people in a non-viral zone. With the reliability and accuracy of blockchain technology, government agencies and health care organizations can monitor potential patients at all stages. The public surveillance system can be made more efficient and robust by combining blockchain technology with artificial intelligence and geographic information system (GIS).
Blockchain technology plays a key role in the fight against covid-19 crises
Let’s understand the benefits of blockchain technology in detail:
1. Control of disease
Effective and accurate surveillance of disease is essential for the prevention and control of infectious diseases. Ebola virus and yellow fever can all be tracked using blockchain technology. The blockchain network is deployed in the country citizens' electronic devices. It can be used to track the spread of COVID-19 infection. Blockchain technology is crucial in the COVID-19 pandemic. It records the symptoms of infection and supports the victims.
2. Traceability
Traceability is the ability to track infected patients. Controlling the spread of coronavirus is crucial. Blockchain technology allows one to track infected patients' movements and provide real-time information about affected areas. This can be used to report on direct fighting efforts. It is possible to track personal movements in virus-free areas using blockchain technology (Juma and al. 2019). The chain blocks are used to record information about safe zones, such as the population, location, and current coronavirus epidemic status. To ensure transparency in the supply chain, goods, and medical supplies must be tracked continuously. The blockchain network has monitoring and transaction recording capabilities that can help you track transactions.
During this crisis, strengthen the supply chain for medical parts
The healthcare sector has faced significant challenges in maintaining a steady supply of medicines and food during this crisis. Blockchain in Healthcare has been very effective in the goods supply chain as well as trading supply chain (Gonczol and al. 2020). Secure linking of blocks and transactions can help ensure the reliability of the medical chain. Blockchain encryption is used to protect the privacy of data in supply chain data. IBM recently launched a blockchain network under the project "Rapid Supply Connect" to support the medical supply chain.
1. Transparency in the treatment of infected patients
Blockchain technology is known for transparency. It is essential to protect the patient's data and other information. Fake news spreads fear and panic on social media platforms due to unreliable data. Blockchain could be used to verify data accuracy and provide real-time updates. It can ease the transition from institution-driven interoperability towards patient-centered interoperability.
2. Monitoring of healthcare instruments
Blockchain technology could play an important role in the tracking of healthcare instruments during the COVID-19 pandemic. It allows for the safe and secure movement between healthcare institutions. It records and tracks the "coronavirus pandemic-fighting materials", such as masks and gloves, and protects them.
3. Improved recovery for infected patients
If the patient is treated promptly, their recovery rate may be increased. The use of blockchain technology allows for the monitoring and management of quarantine cases at both homes and in hospitals. It speeds up drug supply, which is crucial for the recovery of patients infected. Blockchain can be used to record the location and symptoms of patients in the COVID-19 pandemic. It also allows for high privacy. The data block is distributed over the networks of healthcare professionals, governments, and end-users.
4. Transfer and storage of treatment-related data
The most difficult and critical tasks in this COVID-19 pandemic are the storage and transfer of treatment-related data. Data breaches affected more than 176,000,000 patient records between 2009 and 2017. Blockchain technology can maintain a transparent, incorruptible, and decentralized log of patient data. Blockchain technology allows doctors, patients, and healthcare providers access to the same information quickly, safely, and securely.
5. Healthcare protection that is better
The platforms that provide affordable and high-quality healthcare protection were powered by blockchain technology. This technology can be used to track the coronavirus epidemic and protect more patients from it. It allows for real-time routine monitoring of infected patients to track their location and ensure that they receive the correct treatment. It would decrease the chance of misdiagnosis if hospitals and medical professionals had access to a reliable and secure database of patient health records.
In times of crisis, effective healthcare management
To deal with a major crisis such as COVID-19, a well-designed healthcare management system will be necessary. The WHO estimates that frontline healthcare workers need to have more than 89 million masks, 39,000,000 gowns, and 2.9 million liters of hand sanitizer every month to protect themselves from COVID-19. The supply chain management of all these items can be managed using blockchain technology. Blockchain technology is also expected to improve medical record management, the insurance claim process, and advance biomedical, healthcare ledgers during this COVID-19 crisis.
Blockchain technology has its limitations
It has been observed that BT is subject to the following limitations:
1. It is very energy-intensive because each transaction requires a lot of hardware resources.
2. Scalability is a major drawback to this technology. This is due to validation taking some time because transactions must be authorized by most nodes.
3. The complexity of the blockchain and the need for a large network of users is another drawback to this technology.
4. Privacy protection is another major challenge for this technology.
Last Words
This study demonstrates the role of Blockchain in the Covid 19 pandemic. Blockchain technology plays a crucial role in controlling the spread of this pandemic. This technology can be used to help in times of crisis like this by offering improved solutions, outbreak tracking, and privacy protection, the performance of the medical supply chains, donation tracking, and safe day-to-day operations.
The use of blockchain technology should reduce network latency and provide a safe environment for the storage and transmission of critical information. Combining blockchain technology with other emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, big data and Cloud computing in healthcare can be used to effectively combat deadly pandemics such as coronavirus. So, hopefully, this blog might have helped you in understanding how blockchain technology can be helpful for combating COVID 19 crisis.
