3 AI for COVID-19: The Journey So Far

COVID-19 is an infectious virus caused by acute respiratory syndrome SARS-CoV-2. On 11 March, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 as pandemic with around 118,000 cases across 100 countries. Being a highly infectious disease, it has raised significant challenges to global health systems. With the sustained risk of global spread, the health care industry is looking forward to new technologies to fight against this disease. Artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain technology, robotics, etc., are some of the smart and innovative technologies which have revolutionized health care industry in recent past. In this chapter, we will focus on the role of AI technology which includes machine learning (ML), deep learning (DL), and computer vision (CV) techniques in monitoring and controlling the spread of COVID-19. ML technique is widely being explored for predicting the spread of this virus and also provides useful information to control its spread. CV techniques are useful to diagnose the infected patients through computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Drug industry is also exploring AI for rapid design and development of COVID-19 vaccine. AI enabled robots are used in hospitals to decrease the workload of doctors and medical staff. In near future, this technology will emerge as a useful tool to fight against other disruptions affecting the life of human being.