HUTB Research Team Supports Hunan’s Fight against COVID-19 with Big Data
2021-08-29
As of the period from 0:00 to 24:00 on August 28, Hunan province has report zero confirmed case of COVID-19 for 13 consecutive days. In this round of epidemics, the Delta variant of COVID-19 exhibits fast propagation speed, high viral load and strong pathogenicity. Under the uniform leadership of the joint prevention and control mechanism of Hunan province, Doctor Mao Xingliang from the research team led by Chen Xiaohong, Party Secretary of HUTB and Academician, professors from Central South University, and professional technology companies based in Hunan province formed an expert group to meet the practical needs of emergency special group of epidemic prevention and control data of the joint prevention and control mechanism of Hunan province. After one month of research, the expert group utilized new generation information technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence to improve the speed and precision of screening. The expert group has achieved initial results, which will be demonstrated and applied in subsequent epidemic prevention and control work.
Hunan Epidemic Prevention Code: Mobilize resources to improve the efficiency of epidemiological survey
To ensure efficient prevention and control, Hunan is divided into 3 high risk areas and 25 medium risk areas. The activity trajectory space and time of a large number of cases arise from this division, accompanied by personnel information and information about personnel entering and exiting key areas. During the epidemiological survey, the work of epidemic prevention and control is confronted with a new challenge: the number of people with yellow code surges within a short period of time, which brings inconvenience for the travel of citizens, while increasing the work load of front-line prevention and control personnel.
To address this problem, the joint prevention and control mechanism of Hunan province immediately comes up with a new question: how to organize research and rely on communication big data for efficient prevention and control. According to the uniform instructions of the joint prevention and control mechanism of Hunan province, Hunan Communications Administration immediately set up an group of experts selected by HUTB, Central South University and relevant professional technology companies to conduct industry-education-research joint research.
(Members of the expert group of the research team led by Academician Chen Xiaohong is conducting a field survey)
In the case of Qiancheng Jiayuan community in Changsha, the expert group conducted multiple field surveys. During the investigation, the expert group gained a full understanding of the surroundings, heeded the comments of front-line prevention and control personnel, and proposed a method of screening COVID-19 risk population in the surroundings of medium and high risk areas based on multi-source data, which is designed to quickly single out low risk personnel from personnel with yellow code. After verification by the epidemic prevention and control department, the yellow code of low risk personnel turned green.
Immediate Results: Combine big data with efficient prevention and control to help resume work and production
According to the head of the special group of the joint prevention and control mechanism of Hunan province, the joint research expert group consists of experts and professors in relevant areas dispatched by Academician Chen Xiaohong’s team of the Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies of HUTB, and Central South University, Hunan Rednet New Media Group, Hunan Anheng Information Technology Co., Ltd., and Hunan Tianxianghe Information Technology Co., Ltd. provided relevant data resources and technological support.
(geographic information of case community and location of surrounding base station)
Based on the boundary data of administrative region and the information coverage and offset characteristics of base station, the expert group established a boundary data deletion model to improve the statistical precision of users in risk areas. According to the information of base station through which pedestrians pass, the model intelligently analyzed the activity trajectory and travel time of these personnel, and determined whether they traveled by bike, bus or on foot.
At the same time, through signalling data, the model calculated and analyzed the stay time of personnel in the controlled area and surroundings, and determined whether they are permanent residents or passersby. Finally, the model quickly singled out low risk personnel from people with yellow code in the surroundings of medium and high risk areas. After verification by the epidemic control department, the yellow code of low risk personnel turned green.
Under the overall situation of regular epidemic prevention and control, under the guidance of Chen Xiaohong, Party Secretary and Academician, the Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies will follow the uniform instructions of the joint prevention and control mechanism of Hunan province, constantly track the practical needs of prevention and control, give full play to data and technological strengths, and contribute to the fight against COVID-19.
