Global spreading of Omicron variant of COVID-19.

Although two years have passed since the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, various variants are still rampant across the globe. The Omicron variant, in particular, is rapidly gained dominance through its ability to spread. In this study, we elucidated the spatial distribution pattern of Omicron from a global perspective. We used the cumulative number of notified COVID-19 cases per country spanning four weeks up to February 10, 2022, and the proportion of the Omicron variant genomic sequences from the Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data (GISAID). The global spatial distribution of Omicron was investigated by analyzing Global & Local Moran's I and Getis- Ord General G. The spatial weight matrix was defined by combining K-Nearest neighbour and flight connectivity between countries. The results showed that the epidemic is relatively severe in Europe, countries with a high number of Omicron cases and incidence tended to be clustered spatially. In contrast, there are relatively fewer Omicron cases in Asia and Africa, with few hotspots identified. Furthermore, some noted spatial outliers, such as a lowvalue area surrounded by high-value areas, deserve special attention. This study has improved our awareness of the global distribution of Omicron. The findings can provide helpful information for deploying targeted epidemic preparedness for the subsequent COVID-19 variant and future epidemics.

Innovative Applications and Development of AI for Emergency Services

With the outbreak of 2019-ncov (NCP) virus, many AI technologies, equipment and platforms are emerging in the main battlefield of anti-epidemic, such as patrol UVA, 360 disinfection robot, infrared intelligent temperature measuring equipment, throat swab robot, whole lung quantitative analysis technology, medical robot, etc. In the future, AI will continue to play an important role not only in virus type identification, abnormal pathology detection, optimization of treatment methods, prediction of the flow of people, etc., but also in emergency services such as plugging loopholes, making up for shortcomings, strengthening weaknesses. It is suggested to integrate AI into the construction of the emergency system, strengthen the institutional guarantee and make a top-level design, build a coordination platform for AI emergency response, promote the research of key technologies in the field of emergency services and solve the problem of cross-platform coupling in order to build an efficient, scientific and intelligent emergency management system as soon as possible.

New Approaches to Anticipate the Risk of Reverse Zoonosis.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic can cause reverse zoonoses (i.e., human-animal transmission of COVID-19). It is vital to utilize up-to-date methods to improve the control, management, and prevention of reverse zoonoses. Awareness of reverse zoonoses should be raised at both individual and regional/national levels for better protection of both humans and animals.