Combating COVID-19 with 5G: Opportunities to improve public health systems

COVID-19 has put tremendous pressure on public healthcare systems and epidemic response mechanisms across the world. In China, due to its vast landscape, large, highly mobile population and their complicated demand for resources, the effectiveness of communication and data exchange have been essential in screening for infected individuals, providing on-ground support to front line staff and controlling the outbreak.

Thus, telecommunications operators collaborated with Huawei to rapidly set up a specific 5G network dedicated to COVID-19 treatment hospitals. In tandem with innovative applications, 5G is driving the transformation of emergency response mechanisms to become digital, accurate and smart.

Role of 5G in Epidemic Control

The recent incident in China has helped demonstrate the role that 5G can play in epidemic control. Here is how 5G can address the problem:

5G+ thermal imaging supports contagion monitoring- It can accurately monitor a moving object's temperatures in real-time without contact and, issue abnormal temperature alerts

5G enables continuous remote monitoring and diagnosis during patient transfer

5G remote platforms to improve consultation effectiveness and efficiency- The ideal technology to meet teleconferencing requirements to enable medical experts to treat patients without constraints on their physical location, and substantially improve the accuracy and efficiency of consultations

5G remote imaging diagnosis platforms enhance collaboration

5G SMART medical robots to help care for the quarantined patient

5G Inspiring New Business Models-

As a result of 5G features such as high-speed connection, high reliability, and low latency, the healthcare system has benefited from improved response times, patient monitoring, data collection and analytics, remote collaboration and resource allocation.

It also sets an example for digitalized, data-driven and Cloud-based innovative major public emergency response platforms.

The success of 5G applications in the public health domain could also inspire businesses in other sectors to leverage 5G's popularity and explore new applications of the technology. This demonstrates the new business models that industries can consider:

Epidemic monitoring platform- 5Gs s high-speed data transmission and advanced data analytics can consolidate large amounts of fragmented information and can improve monitoring accuracy and efficiency, and reduce heavy manual work

5G epidemic prevention patrol drone

5G smart robots

Smart City connected platform model

Natural disaster command centers- Natural disaster response can be equipped with 5G and Internet of Things (IoT) networks, enabling deep analysis of supply chains and providing real-time information on front-line supply consumption, resource inventory levels, production capability, supply capability, and logistics support decisions to balance supply and demand

Remote medical consultation- 5G networks can extend medical consultation into the community and even to individual households, enabling interaction between patients and doctors