How tech companies and IT pros in Africa are responding to the pandemic

Life is currently throwing curveballs at everyone amidst the crises we face. But whether you choose to swing the bat or walk to the bench is entirely up to you. There have been a great number of IT pros and tech companies finding ways to fight the ongoing pandemic. Here's a rundown of how technology workers are joining forces to alleviate the crises in various ways.

Almost every day we hear tech companies, governments, and international agencies announcing measures to help contain the spread of the virus.

• Apple & Google  have taken leadership roles in supporting COVID-19  mitigation efforts and are also teaming up to build a coronavirus tracking system

• Dell, Lenovo, Intel, Cisco Systems, HP and other vendors are actively supporting a variety of COVID-19 efforts. Those include assisting customers and partners to enhance business continuity and workplace productivity, including supporting working from home (WFH) programs. This includes delivering robust laptop, convertible and desktop endpoints.

• IBM has developed a new and precise “incident map” for COVID-19 on its Weather Channel app and on Weather.com.

• Apple's Siri now helps you check coronavirus symptoms.

• Instagram rolls out a video chat feature to promote social distancing

Across West - Africa, companies are convening to fight COVID-19 pandemic

Polymorph Labs is one of the many companies actively working on solutions to fight the pandemic in West Africa.  As of 14 April, the number of cases on the continent had surpassed 10,000. As the virus spreads, experts are seeking a way to reduce the impact. The company is working on an all-in-one CoronaVirus Emergency Response Solutions. This is by far the best solution we have seen. The system has a Mobile App (Android and iOS), USSD, PWA, Web Dashboard and an IVR.

Although the pandemic is not as widespread in Africa as with other continents, the data suggests that the spread rate of COVID-19 can grow exponentially within a relatively short period of time. Africa is presented with a unique opportunity to learn from data associated with the spread of the disease in other parts of the world by adopting technology as a key tool in managing the pandemic - Michael Agbo Tettey Soli, CEO of Polymorph Labs Ghana Limited

In the documentation that was released a couple of days ago, the solution is equipped with four main features:

•  Report COVID-19 cases

• Access News, Country Measures and Updates on COVID-19

• Log Daily symptoms

•  Automated contact tracing

Using apps in the context of COVID-19 is useful to the general public to help people report their symptoms and learn about the virus and the health response. Apps are now being explored to trace contacts through interaction and proximity analysis. There are a lot of concerns raised when it comes to the privacy of users' data. Broadly speaking, these are not normal times and it looks like the move to deploy a smartphone monitory system is a sure way to control the pandemic.


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