COVID-19 in the Era of Artificial Intelligence: Existing Technologies and A Strategic Model for Mitigating Future Pandemics

Pandemics have existed since the existence of life and will continue as life continues. Throughout many of the previous pandemics, what played a major role in decreasing their severity is how we mitigated and controlled them. The main reason for this is the time it takes for treatments and vaccinations to be developed, which usually takes a long time. Therefore, the techniques used to control a pandemic rapidly change over the course of the pandemic until a cure or vaccine comes to light. At present, emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), fifth generation networks and big data) can have a significant impact on controlling upcoming pandemics including. This study provides a comprehensive survey of current technologies that use AI and big data analytics to take part in the fight against the current pandemic (COVID-19), including their objectives, strengths, weaknesses and challenges. This study also studies existing telemedicine technologies and contact tracing tools used in various countries, which governments have adapted to fight against the current COVID-19 pandemic. This study concludes by suggesting a novel strategic model for controlling and mitigating pandemic crises (e.g., COVID-19). This model represents a guided solution for identifying pandemics and for controlling them using advanced digital solutions from the early stages. More precisely, it can assist in identifying which AI tools can be developed in order to predict pandemics before their outbreaks.