How digital health and pandemic preparedness proved a game changer? A case of Singapore in COVID-19 management

ABSTRACT

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2. It has affected over 200 countries and inflicted significant mortalities as well as disrupted the normal social and economic processes. In the absence of an established effective vaccination, the cornerstone of COVID-19 management largely depends on containment and mitigation strategies. However, it is increasingly felt that digital health can be widely used to facilitate COVID-19 pandemic management effectively, which is otherwise difficult to attain manually. Many countries depended on health technology to contain the impact of the virus. However, Singapore, a small country in the South-East Asian region demonstrated exemplary pandemic preparedness skills coupled with adoption of digital health technology to attain remarkable success in containing the virus. © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.