BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 16
By Sadraddin Agjayev - Trend:
The coronavirus pandemic stimulates the development and use of new generation digital technologies, CEO of Azerbaijan’s AzerTelecom company, internet backbone provider, Fuad Allahverdiyev told Trend.
“Amid this pandemic, leaders of some countries are already refusing from international meetings and conferences as it is safer to communicate via Skype, Zoom and other means while business, education and various spheres are switching to the online platforms,” the CEO added.
“Remote management of employees, the use of video conferencing, as well as communication services allow millions of people to work at home without visiting the office, which leads to a sharp reduction in costs,” Allahverdiyev said.
The experts think that in the fight against a pandemic, contactless delivery methods fully demonstrate their advantages. Service robots, self-service stores without sellers - all this is becoming more realistic.
"Due to the fear of being infected, people and companies prefer to do shopping online, which will further increase the share of e-commerce," he said. "The current situation is increasing the need for online applications and digital technologies, which makes it necessary to create a sustainable infrastructure in the world.”
“Thus, the need for communication services is growing because millions of people are already working at home, the volume of content which is transmitted online is growing, which makes the development of infrastructure necessary,” Allahverdiyev said.
“The authorities of the countries, various structures, companies and scholars are trying to find the new ways to fight the virus,” the CEO said.
“By using drones the Chinese police tracked people who do not wear medical masks in hazardous areas while internet giants (Google, Facebook, Amazon) launched their own programs to help combat the coronavirus. For example, the Canadian BlueDot company collects data on new infections worldwide and uses artificial intelligence to predict new cases in China or other parts of the world,” Allahverdiyev said.
“The US Artificial Intelligence in Medical Epidemiology (AIME) startup has been using artificial intelligence since 2015 to analyze and predict the spread of various epidemics,” Allahverdiyev added.
"The outbreak of coronavirus, which began in China at the end of December 2019, began to decline in early February 2020,” Allahverdiyev said. “The use of various artificial intelligence technologies of such big Chinese companies as Baidu, Alibaba, Alipay also influenced the fight against the pandemic.”
He added that medical treatment-related calls online have increased as well.
“At the same time, a variety of mobile medical applications, allowing patients to communicate with doctors, pharmacies, and give useful tips on combating coronavirus, were launched,” the CEO said.
“All this shows that the opportunities have increased to reduce the damage caused by the pandemic thanks to the information technologies, including the internet, while digitalization has changed people's approach to the diagnosis and monitoring of many diseases," Allahverdiyev added.
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