Digital Technologies Adoption to Face COVID-19 Pandemic: An Exploratory Approach

ABSTRACT

The biggest public health emergency of the 21st century, COVID-19, a disease caused by the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, has challenged health systems on a global scale. In this pandemic scenario, digital technologies show themselves as alternatives to fight the disease. Therefore, this article aimed to map the application of digital technologies in the scope of the COVID-19 pandemic. To this end, an exploratory study was developed, with a qualitative approach and through the application of bibliographical research based on a systematic review. The mapping and discussion of the application of strategies from the Fourth Industrial Revolution in actions to combat SARS-CoV-2 pointed to Augmented Reality, Additive Manufacturing, Collaborative Robots, Big Data Analytics, and Internet of Things as enablers to prevent, detect, and manage COVID-19 disease, promoting telehealth, intelligent tracking of infected individuals, real-time medical data sharing, rapid prototyping of critical devices, among others. Reports in the literature suggest the importance of a robust technological apparatus to face this sanitary challenge, which should be one of the focuses for the development of new public policies. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.