Artificial intelligence (AI), big data and 5G have all played important roles in diagnosis and vaccine development of the novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19), and the resumption of production in China, Xie Shaofeng, an official of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), said in a press conference on Wednesday.

Xie told the press that the technologies can improve the efficiency of epidemic situation analysis, virus tracing, patient tracking and community management amid the outbreak.

He also called on companies to accelerate the process of resuming production by adopting technologies including industrial internet, AI and virtual reality (VR) to explore new production and service formats such as unmanned production, online service, remote operation and maintenance.

Since the outbreak, over 20 AI systems have been used in hundreds of frontline hospitals to serve suspected and confirmed patients, according to Xie, adding that MIIT will continue to push the integrated development of AI and medical work.

A digital card that records cities that the holder has visited in the past 14 days has been used across the country amid the outbreak for companies to check their employees' travel history.

Developed based on data analysis from China's telecom giants China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom, and China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, the digital card can be accessed by individual through SMS, QR code, mini program of WeChat and webpage.

The digital code doesn't require users to submit personal information such as an ID number and home address because the travel information is generated based on communication network data.

"The result of where you have been only shows on your phone," said Han Xia, head of the telecommunication management department at MIIT, adding that all of the 1.58 billion mobile users in China can use this service.

The function of overseas visit history was launched on March 6, according to Han.

(Cover photo via VCG)