The digital response to COVID-19 : Exploring the use of digital technology for information collection, dissemination and social control in a global pandemic

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a global surge in the development and implementation of digital interventions to diagnose, track, prevent and mitigate the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. To date, however, there has been little research to characterise the vast scope and scale of these novel, ad hoc and widely varied digital tools. This paper helps fill this gap by providing a descriptive summary of the digital response to COVID-19. The research finds that the digital response can be broken into four main categories: 1) tracking the spread of the virus (contact tracing); 2) controlling social behaviour during the outbreak (social behaviour monitoring); 3) information gathering and dissemination about the virus (one-way and two-way public communications); and 4) diagnosis and treatment (remote diagnostics and treatment). This paper describes the four response categories and provides examples of the digital technologies being developed and implemented for these purposes. This descriptive understanding provides a contextual foundation for subsequent research to analyse the opportunities and challenges associated with the development, implementation and uptake of digital interventions, alongside the development of analytical frameworks and guidance.