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What Solutions Can Blockchain Bring in Response to the Deadly Coronavirus Outbreak?

The Wuhan coronavirus death toll hit a daily high, with 565 deaths, and 3694 confirmed cases, a slightly lower number than the day earlier. 28,261 cases of infection have been reported worldwide, with most cases confirmed in Hubei province in China.

Syren Johnstone, the Executive Director of the Masters of Law (Compliance and Regulation) Program the University of Hong Kong published a post at the Oxford University Faculty of Law Department blog, stating that blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) could be the “call to arms for the tech industry.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping previously mentioned that opportunities have been presented by blockchain technology and that the nation should accelerate its development to utilize its full potential. How can this apply to the current crisis?

Donations for coronavirus vaccine research

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said a “window of opportunity” exists “to bring this outbreak under control,” given that only 190 cases are confirmed outside of China.

As a part of the WHO’s request for $675 million in global contributions to stop the spread of the disease, Bill and Melinda Gates donated $100 million for coronavirus vaccine research and to protect at-risk populations in Africa and South Asia.

Chinese conglomerate Alibaba started a $144 million fund to purchase medical supplies for Wuhan, the city of the epicenter of the outbreak while offering AI computing power to research organizations for creating vaccines and treatments. Tencent also created a $42.7 million fund for medical supplies to be used in Wuhan.

The current issues with donations and learning from past mistakes

The Charity Law of China was introduced in the country in 2016, to enable the establishment of private charities, to develop the charity field and the interests of stakeholders.

However, there has been concern that the millions of dollars being donated for the public, as well as the protective equipment, are not being put to use where needed, and it has been reported that the equipment has been misdirected.

Beijing has ordered all public donations for the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak to be funneled to five government-backed charity organizations, which automatically assumes that these government-backed charities are all fit for purpose, and would be able to manage in a centralized manner of the recent outbreak.

The Red Cross in China has previously mishandled billions of dollars donated for the Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan province in Western China in 2008. The Red Cross in China reflected, “One of the lessons learned was that emergency response must be better developed at the local level.”

Johnstone added, “When crises occur they are by their nature large scale, happen quickly and unexpectedly, and become increasingly tragic the longer it takes for an effective response to emerge. The striking concern about the present situation in the Hubei Red Cross is the degree of opacity involved given that the charities receiving donations have a fiduciary and moral duty to apply donations effectively and for the purposes intended.” He suggested that currently, news reports are the only available source of information on how the donations are used, which is not enough.

With the issues in the chain of donations, the public in China has been angered as their contributions have not ended up where they expected, which diverts the objective of addressing the crisis. This, in turn, also impacts the public’s willingness to donate in the future.

How can blockchain help?

According to Johnstone, a private blockchain network would “enable the recording and tracking of anything that is donated, from donation dollars to N95 masks.” By holding the person or organization accountable, donations for delivery could be tracked from the donor all the way to its final-use. Blockchain would also enable transparency for the general public to understand how their donations have been used and its progress. While a private blockchain is strictly controlled, it can also allow for public transparency for donors and donees, as well as authorities.

Johnstone, describing blockchain as a “superior tool” for tracking and verifying the origin and the journey for products, made the conclusion that it could be applied to “pretty much anything.” He added that blockchain could also solve the issue of substandard vaccines being mishandled and delivered to Chinese hospitals.

VeChain and DNV GL have been looking into using blockchain technology to enhance drug traceability since 2018. In November 2019, the National Medical Products Administration in China will launch a vaccine tracking system in Q1 of 2020 that covers the whole medical supply chain. Together with President Xi’s endorsement of the technology, blockchain could become essential for finding a suitable solution for the current issues.

Blockchain to ease the fight of patenting the cure of the coronavirus

China has been desperately looking into different solutions looking to cure the coronavirus. Although there has not been any effective cure for the virus, which has taken over 500 lives, progress has been made, where remdesivir is now believed to be the acceptable treatment of the virus.

Remdesivir was originally developed to treat the Ebola virus; however, it was not effective. Preclinical tests suggested that the drug may be effective against the coronavirus, and was given to a US patient for “compassionate use” and the patient’s condition was improved the next day.

The Wuhan Institute for Virology in China has applied to patent the drug, which is being developed by Gilead Sciences and is currently in Phase III of its clinical trial to assess the use of the drug for the treatment of the coronavirus.

However, a spokeswoman for Gilead Sciences said that the company invented the drug, and filed patent applications for the drug to be used against coronaviruses globally, including China, in 2016.

In situations like these, where there may be a contest in a patent or in securing intellectual property rights, blockchain could become the answer for the management of these rights. An immutable record of events, where the first entity to create the drug, could be added on the blockchain to avoid the duplication of patents for the same drug.

Positives Out of the Wuhan Coronavirus: Blockchain Educators in the City

For many outside of China, the city of Wuhan is now identified as being ground zero for the recent outbreak of the coronavirus, but some amazing innovation has come out of China’s seventh biggest city in recent years.

Already established as a major motor manufacturing hub, the region is also making waves in the blockchain space and pressing ahead with educating about the technology in centers.

Based in Wuhan, Tech4 Blockchain is going from strength to strength, supporting the vibrant blockchain community in the province and it has formed close ties with the blockchain center of the Zhongnan University of Economics and Law Wuhan.

Local governments in cities like Wuhan are eager to boost innovation and cultivate the next big technology unicorns, pledging millions to build high-technology parks and offer tax exemptions to big companies willing to open up offices and bring talent to the region.

Even before President Xi Jinping’s support of blockchain was revealed, over ten universities in China have launched blockchain courses including a research center in Hainan province which is working with University College, Oxford in the UK to jointly promote technology and develop expertise. This joint approach is fantastic news for both countries however for the dissemination and sharing of knowledge to truly prosper, more cooperation between public and private sectors is needed. China’s digital currency will be a key enabler, not just for a new host of financial products but by bringing never seen before levels of automation, between suppliers, manufacturers, and consumers.

This, combined with the fantastic opportunities to digitize trade finance and supply chains that will emerge from the Belt and Road Initiative is extremely exciting.

Image by CDC via Unsplash

Blockchain-Powered Donation Tracking Platform Shanzong Seeks to Propel Transparency Amid Coronavirus Scare

With coronavirus having claimed more than 1,800 lives, capturing vital statistics is fundamental in having it curbed. Shanzong, a blockchain-enabled donation tracking platform, has been established in China to boost efficiency and transparency of giving. Notably, some traditional charities have been marred with a lack of proper accountability when it comes to distributing resources to needy people.

Tracking of donations

The lack of transparency can jeopardize the act of giving if the donated resources do not wholly or partly reach the intended users. Notably, China has been a culprit of public distribution and donations scandals that have tarnished people’s confidence in some governmental charity organizations.

For instance, some hospitals have decried a shortage of masks needed by front-line medical personnel to protect themselves from the deadly coronavirus. This shortcoming instigated a social media outcry. Moreover, the Red Cross Society of Hubei recently asserted that they were extremely distressed and had themselves to blame for the difficulties witnessed in the distribution of donations.

Blockchain startups China Xiong’an Group and Hyperchain have noted this concern, and they intend to solve it with Shanzong. By launching Shanzong, they intend to track the type of donations given, such as medical materials, masks, and money, and how they will be allocated and delivered to areas of need.

This platform is touted to be beneficial because 500 donations have so far been recorded from entities, such as Yuegou Living Supermarket and New Sunshine Charity Foundation. On the other hand, donation recipients include Xiantao No 1 People’s Hospital, Jiayu People’s Hospital, and Tongshan People’s Hospital. These hospitals have been playing a vital role in treating coronavirus patients.

Blockchain to authenticate donations

Shanzong seeks to validate donation information by recording it on the blockchain network as it is immutable or tamperproof. As a result, transparency will be guaranteed to all stakeholders, such as donors, and this will eliminate the challenges witnessed by traditional charitable donations.

Private blockchain networks are, therefore, expected to come in handy in dealing with the coronavirus crisis as they enable the recording and tracking of anything donated, from N95 masks to donation dollars.

Image via Shutterstock

WeChat Pay and Alipay May Have Helped China to Track Coronavirus Victims Through Digital Payments

With the novel coronavirus infecting more than 75,000 people around the world, and with the majority of the Chinese population in the Hubei province infected, authorities in the nation decided to track everyone who bought fever medicine in the province.

Provincial officials have taken measures to grasp tighter measures to better control the outbreak, as the situation has not shown signs of slowing down. Officials reported that they have tracked offline and online purchases of fever medicine to be able to provide relief efforts, as fever is one of the symptoms most patients with the virus display.

The officials also mentioned that comprehensive investigations have been conducted,on citizens who have reported fever symptoms at medical institutions, and those who have purchased medicine through physical pharmacies or online. Information including the time, date, name, citizenship number, address, phone number of the citizen has been recorded.

China’s CBDC vs. Alipay & WeChat Pay

Alipay and WeChat Pay, the country’s most used mobile payment systems, have been suggested to provide the information collected from the citizens. The Alipay ewallet, owned by Alibaba Holdings, and WeChat, owned by Tencent, has close ties to the Chinese government. Mobile payments in China reached over $41 trillion annually, with over 92 percent of mobile payments made via Alipay and WeChat Pay.

China has been progressing with the development of its central bank digital currency (CBDC), its digital currency electronic payment (DCEP). It has been revealed that the digital payment system is to replace M0 supply, which are the notes and coins in circulation, and is aimed at the retail market.

Mu Changchun, the Director-General of the Institute of Digital Currency of the People’s Bank of China previously made a comment that the DCEP would “provide redundancy” to China’s “advanced electronic payment platforms” including payment duopoly WeChat Pay and Alipay.

However, confidential information of Chinese citizens making purchases online and in-person has been provided to the Chinese authorities, raising the question of the necessity of its CBDC from the perspective of financial monitoring.

What Can We Learn From Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong's Coronavirus Outbreak Contingency Plan for Employees?

The coronavirus has dominated mainstream media coverage as countries outside of China has been seeing an increase of cases as the death toll reaches 2,700 worldwide.

Coronavirus cases in South Korea have reached 1,140, while the recent outbreak in Italy has caused more than 320 infections and 90 cases in Iran. The World Health Organization officials and US experts believe it is still too early to declare the novel coronavirus, known as COVID-19 as a pandemic.

US health officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that the coronavirus “is not recognized to be spreading in US communities.” Officials added that if the local transmissions are identified in the US, the US response strategy will “enhance implementation of actions to slow spread in communities.”

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst

US crypto trading firm Coinbase has been reportedly “planning for a really negative outcome” although the firm has kept an optimistic outlook.

Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase published a shared document stating, “Our expectation is that the measured mortality rate (once low-severity cases are included in the overall count) will fall significantly and that we’ll see limited transmission in the west, where there will be fewer high-density multi-generational housing situations.”

Coinbase has offices in the US, Japan, UK, and Ireland, and the firm is taking measures to ensure safety for three phases of the disease, from phase one, consisting of more than 100 cases of the coronavirus to phase three, more than 5000 infections. Currently, all of the firm’s offices are in tier 0, Japan is in tier 1. Tier 0 also includes improved sanitation measures in the office.

Daily number of newly confirmed cases reported in Japan since January 10, 2020. Source: CHP Hong Kong

In cases where there are 100 or more infected people in the commuting radius of the Coinbase office, the firm will request some employees to work from home, while offering mask disposal bins and boost cleaning schedules for those in the office.

Phase two is when there are more than 1000 cases are within the commute range of the Coinbase office, with a mortality rate of 1% or above. If the situation leads to phase three, all employees will be required to work from home.

“We continue to believe the risk of COVID-2019 coronavirus to most employees is low, with a slightly elevated risk to our team in Japan,” said Coinbase. The firm has made restrictions on travel to China, Hong Kong, Japan, Italy, and South Korea.

Hong Kong blockchain events cancelled

The Hong Kong Blockchain Week 2020, hosted by NexChange Group and supported by Cyberport, which was initially scheduled for March 2-6, has been postponed due to security and safety concerns regarding the outbreak of the coronavirus.

Token2049, and StartmeupHK Festival 2020 have also been postponed to a later date, citing coronavirus developments creating uncertainty.

Hong Kong blockchain remittance startup Bitspark closure mildly due to coronavirus

Bitspark, a blockchain remittance startup based in Hong Kong, recently announced its closure, stating reasons due to internal restructuring issues, as well as the coronavirus outbreak and protests that led to the current deterioration of Asia’s financial hub.

Coronavirus Tracking and Surveillance May Have Consequences for the Protection of Personal Data Privacy

The World Health Organization (WHO) has recently stated that the coronavirus pandemic is “accelerating,” as 20% of the world’s population goes into lockdown in an attempt to curb the spread of the virus. People are told to stay at home as the world is entering a critical week, with over 381,761 cases confirmed around the world at the time of reporting.

According to statistics, the first 100,000 of confirmed cases took 67 days to appear, the next 100,000 in 11 days, and the next 100,000 in just four days. We are quickly approaching the next 100,000.

However, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General said that there was still hope and that it was still possible to “change the trajectory.” He advised countries to continue and adopt rigorous testing as well as contact-tracing strategies.

South Korea

South Korea has been coming up with innovative solutions during its fight against Covid-19, including a “self-health check” app to keep tabs on foreign visitors. The app has been used more than 60,000 times, and the usage rate has recorded over 90 percent.

The government agencies have also been using surveillance-camera footage, smartphone location data and credit card purchase history to trace the movements of the confirmed coronavirus victims to track transmission chains. The government also posted detailed location histories of each coronavirus patient including their whereabouts before they tested positive. This information included when and where the patients went for work, their favorite massage parlors, and karaoke bars. Netizens were able to identify patients by name by using the detailed information released by the government.

However, the Director of South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that the country will “balance the value of protecting individual human rights and privacy and the value of upholding public interest in preventing mass infections.” This decision was made as there were concerns that the privacy invasions might have discouraged South Korean citizens to come forward and get tested for the virus.

China’s Alipay and WeChat Pay

China has been progressing with the development of its central bank digital currency (CBDC), its digital currency electronic payment (DCEP). It has been revealed that the digital payment system is to replace M0 supply, which are the notes and coins in circulation, and is aimed at the retail market.

What is blockchain’s role in ensuring personal privacy?

Brittany Kaiser, the Cambridge Analytica scandal whistleblower, discussed in an interview at the World Economic Forum that blockchain technology could be an essential tool to address data protection issues.

The Cambridge Analytica scandal broke out in 2016 when it revealed that the data of over 87 million Facebook users have been reaped through a personality quiz. Cambridge Analytica was involved in US President Donald Trump’s election campaign.

Kaiser is now serving as the co-founder of Own Your Data Foundation, a digital intelligence startup. In her interview, she said, “In my opinion, it’s really blockchain tech and blockchain entrepreneurs that are going to solve a lot of problems of the data protection crisis.” Kaiser believes that personal data is one of the most valuable assets in the world, and blockchain can help people to protect their personal data.

Blockchain technology could potentially enable the protection of personal privacy, while personal information could still be released when needed. Blockchain can track and store personal data, and with its immutable nature, the stored information would remain safe and secure.

Although the immutable feature of blockchain may also have its complications, as the user will not have the option to erase parts of their personal information once it has been stored on the blockchain, which defies the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, which ensures all users to have the right to be forgotten.

Image via Shutterstock