As of March 7th, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the global number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 had surpassed 100,000.
At the time, the WHO highlighted the importance of stopping, containing, controlling, delaying, and reducing the impact of Covid-19.
So far, significant measures have been taken to follow this advice, with major conferences and gatherings around the world being canceled to mitigate the spread of the virus.
With employees around the world are also having to work remotely. This disruption has, in some cases, been helped by the implementation of video conferencing technologies such as Zoom, Google Hangouts, and Microsoft Teams, as well as the use of other communication and collaboration tools such as Slack, Trello, and Asana.
Here, we take a look at some of the tech solutions devised by start-ups that have been used to limit the spread of Covid-19 and solve other problems that have arisen as the world responds to the virus.
PREVENTION AND INFORMATION DISSEMINATION
The primary advice imparted to the public by the WHO, the HSE, the CDC, the NHS, and other health organizations is that everybody should be focused on washing their hands thoroughly and other preventive measures to correctly curtail the spread of Covid-19.
- Sure Wash:
Sure wash is a startup based in Trinity College, Dublin. Sure wash previously developed a clinical hand-wash hygiene training app, which is used to teach nurses, doctors, and other medical professionals how to wash their hands in the workplace. Sure Wash has recently updated the app, which can be downloaded to smartphones, in light of the spread of Covid-19.
- Slightly Robot
Following the outbreak of Covid-19, a start-up called Slightly Robot designed a wearable wristband called Immutouch, which vibrates if a wearer touches their face. The device uses a gravimeter and a personalized algorithm to track any hazardous gestures, to encourage healthier habits.
REMOTE CONFERENCES
With the recent string of conference cancellations, and employees working remotely from home, there has been an enormous demand for video-conferencing platforms.
- Run the World
Run the world platform enables event organizers to hold live online events where participants can learn from experts and connect with others. The start-up has already powered dozens of conferences, hosting attendees from more than 30 countries.
Run The World has responded to the Covid-19 crisis by waiving all set-up fees for any conference affected by the virus.
- Hopin
Hopin combined live-streamed presentations with a virtual networking feature that enables attendees to meet each other. Since the pandemic hit, the platform has hosted more than 200 events and has hosted 30,000 virtual attendees.
Hopin solved the need of people to network with other people physically.
SANITATION
Another area where start-ups are trying to solve issues associated with the spread of a contagious virus is disinfecting. Startups that use UV light to clean surfaces and items have seen a boost in sales since Covid-19 began making headlines.
- PhoneSoap,
Phonesoap is a startup based in Utah; they produce devices that clean mobile phones and other electronics items with UV light. The company noticed a surge in sales in mid-January, as more people grew concerned about personal hygiene.
- CleanSlate UV
CleanSlate UV is a Toronto-based startup that uses UV light to sanitize items in hospitals such as stethoscopes, badges, and phones.
- VentureBeat
Venturebeat is a Danish start-up that creates robots that it sends into healthcare facilities and spreads UV light to disinfect rooms contaminated with viruses or bacteria. This is one of several robot-related solutions that China implemented to help prevent the spread of the disease.
CORPORATE SERVICES
Due to COVID-19, many companies around the world are working remotely. In this new scenario, HR, IT, and other jobs are also facing new challenges. Some tech startups are already proffering solutions to these immediate problems.
- oiBP
OIBP is a Chinese based startup that uses artificial intelligence decision-making schemes for retail company’s products and supply chain to help business owners implement refined management decisions to improve efficiency for resource allocation.
- TreatBook
Treatbook is a Chinese based startup, during the epidemic, TreatBook opened its OneDNS service free of charge that blocks various malicious software, Trojan horses, worms, and other network threats in a remote office environment.
- WorkTrans
WorkTrans is a Software as a service (SaaS) service provider for attendance management.
During the pandemic period, it launched an employee sharing platform to provide large and medium-sized labor-intensive enterprises with digital management tools to help enterprises solve the flexible employment problem in one stop.
CONCLUSION
COVID-19 is continuing to spread across the globe, the innovative impacts of startups will go a long way to help curtail the spread of the virus, as well as channel us to the next phase that comes when the pandemic crisis is all over.
