26 Mar 2020

A 5G technology can enhance effectiveness of pandemic prevention and treatment as well as drive digital transformation of healthcare systems in response to major emergencies such as COVID-19. 

A press release from Huawei Technologies Botswana quotes a newly released Deloitte report, which analyses examples of COVID-19 control and treatment measures in China and identified challenges that face epidemic management in terms of monitoring, quarantine and treatment.

It explains that during the outbreak in China, telecommunications operators collaborated with Huawei to rapidly set up a specific 5G network dedicated to COVID-19 treatment hospitals. 

Amongst its findings, the white paper notes that the effectiveness of communication and data exchange has been essential in screening for infected individuals and controlling the outbreak. “This by enabling thermal imaging, continuous remote monitoring and diagnoses during patient transfer,” it states.

The research also highlights the need to build and upgrade public health emergency response mechanisms, through which governments can make right decisions promptly and allocate resources more effectively. 

“In this regard, 5G can also promote collaboration by enabling connectivity, maintaining effective communication among hospitals, and enable medical data and reference sharing between hospitals and scientific research institutions, especially in the rapid increases in data volume and mounting demand for remote and HD-video based treatment scenario,” it explains.

Also, the report indicates that the success of 5G applications in the public health domain can also inspire new business models in other sectors.

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