The world is currently facing multifaceted problems due to the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Blockchain technology is playing a vital role in creating a platform for adequately managing the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this worldwide health crisis, the medical industry is looking for newer technologies to monitor and control the COVID-19. Thus, to monitor and control the spread of any virus, accurate and trustable data are required as they are essential. 

However, in the present scenario, the existing technology lacks the trustable data that may provide the correct information about the widespread outbreak. Sources such as public hospitals and clinical laboratories can provide information about the COVID-19 pandemic patients, but the data may not be faithful because it is not monitored and appropriately stored or not collected according to the set guidelines.

To solve these kinds of issues, Blockchain technology can play a vital role in tracking the spread of the coronavirus easily, by identifying high-risk patients, and it is highly competent in controlling the infectionjin real-time. It is defined as a digital database that contains information which can be simultaneously used and shared within an extensive decentralized and publicly accessible network. 

Significant benefits of Blockchain technology for COVID-19 pandemic

Blockchain technology enables distributed, encrypted, and secure logging of digital transactions. It is expected to revolutionize computing in several areas, mainly where centralization is unnatural and privacy is essential. It can be leveraged globally to track the spread of the coronavirus infection by deploying a Blockchain network on citizens’ mobile devices.

Blockchain technology has the ability to preserve patient information. It can simplify the fast-tracking of drug trials and record and track all fund-raising activities and donations transparently. So, outbreak tracking, user privacy protection, medical supply chain management, and donation tracking are the various areas in which Blockchain technology can play a vital role in fighting t the COVID-19 crisis.

Digital data storage of COVID-19 patients using Blockchain technology

One of the main issues during this pandemic time is the need for reliable, up-to-date data concerning the outbreak and spread of the novel coronavirus. Blockchain technology can help to resolve this problem very effectively. One of the essential advantages of this technology is it provides verifiable and secure data by using its distributed ledger technology and peer-to-peer networking features.

During this pandemic, this technology is instrumental in recording patient information with COVID-19 symptoms, locations, and the history of health conditions with high privacy. Many platforms have recently been launched which use this technology to facilitate sharing bothinformation and valuable data related to COVID-19. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) launched MiPasa in March 2020. It is a Blockchain technology-based platform which facilitates fully private information sharing between individuals, state authorities, and health institutions. 

Blockchain technology for public surveillance system during the COVID-19 pandemic

Blockchain technology can successfully track the patient’s moment and provide real-time data about the affected areas and direct fighting efforts. This technology is also useful for the tracking of a person’s movement in a virus-free zone. Government and health organizations can monitor potential patients at every stage by using Blockchain technology reliably and accurately. 

Information on safe zones, such as population, location, and current coronavirus outbreak status, is recorded using a chain of blocks in which each block can store an update of the outbreak at a particular time. Combining Blockchain technology with artificial intelligence (AI) and a geographical information system (GIS) can make the public surveillance system more effective and robust.

The Blockchain process for COVID-19 pandemic

Blockchain technology participating nodes are used for patients, testing and clinical laboratories, hospitals, and government sites. Besides, the documents on the digital ledger are the patients’ records, sample test results, treatment status, and discharge summary.

According to the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) (OECD Economic Outlook, Interim Report March: Coronavirus: the world economy at risk, 2020), the global economy has slowed down is now at its slowest since 2009. This is due to the complete shutdown of various sectors such as supply chain, insurance, tourism, agriculture, construction, and automobiles.

Disease control

For infectious disease control and preventing the spread of the pandemic, effective and accurate disease surveillance is necessary. Ebola virus, yellow fever, cholera in Africa, Nipah in Asia, Middle East respiratory syndrome, coronavirus, etc., are diseases that can be monitored and controlled using Blockchain technology. It can be used globally to track the spread of COVID-19 infections among humans and it is carried out by deploying Blockchain network in-country citizens’ electronic devices. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Blockchain technology is essential in supporting the virus victims by recording immutably the patient’s infection symptoms.

Traceability

With Blockchain technology, one can track the infected patient’s movements, provide real-time data about affected areas, and report directly the efforts to fight it. Blockchain technology is also useful in implementing tracking of a person’s movements in virus-free zones. Information on safe zones, such as population, location, and current coronavirus outbreak status, are recorded using the chain blocks.

In this pandemic crisis, maintaining a continuous supply of medicines and food has become a considerable challenge for the healthcare sector, and Blockchain technology has proved very useful in the goods supply chain and trading supply chain. It can ensure the reliability of the medical chain by creating a secure linking between the blocks and transactions. Thus, to maintain privacy in the data of the supply chain, Blockchain encryption is used. 

Recently, IBM launched a Blockchain network to bolster the medical supply chain during COVID-19, under the project name “Rapid Supplier Connect.”

Improving the recovery of infected patients

Infected patient’s recovery rate can be improved if they get treatment at the right time. Blockchain technology helps to monitor the quarantine cases effectively at home and in the hospitals. It enables the drug supply faster, which will play an important role in infected patients’ recovery. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Blockchain can privately record the patient’s symptoms, location, and historical health conditions in a highly effective way. The data block is decentralized over the distributed networks of governments, healthcare professionals, and end-users.

Effective healthcare management during the crisis

A well-designed healthcare management system is necessary to deal with big crises like COVID-19, both in the present and the future. According to the WHO, every month, frontline health responders need more than 89 million masks, 39 million gowns, 76 million gloves, and 2.9 million liters of hand sanitizer to protect themselves and others from COVID-19. Blockchain technology helps to manage the supply of all the above-mentioned items. 

The greatest challenge most governments are suffering from is the lack of a precise mechanism that is needed to detect the newly infected cases and predict coronavirus infection risk. So, we need a technology-empowered solution during this COVID-19 crisis. 

The various features of Blockchain technology, such as decentralization, transparency, and immutability, can help us to control this pandemic through the early detection of outbreaks, as well as by fast-tracking drug delivery, and protecting user privacy during a patient’s treatment.