Over the past decades all data technologies, from data acquisition and processing to storing and publishing have become cheaper than ever before. This revolutionised the world by providing unprecedented opportunities to produce insights from data. Scientists embrace these opportunities in many aspects of life, illustrated by how big data and data analytics technology and practices have become mainstream, such as in business, the public sector, mobility, and now, outbreaks.
The ease of use and accessibility of data technology is very visible during the current pandemic, where data on COVID-19
In order to flatten the curve of the rapid spread of COVID-19, many countries implemented restrictions such as closing schools, factories, and offices as well as cancelling public events. For information on the restrictions implemented by countries read our data story about the Oxford Government Response Tracker. In many countries, these governmental measures include a request for citizens to stay at home as much as possible and travel restrictions. As a consequence, there has been a massive reduction in traffic on the roads as well as in air transport (e.g. the number of European daily
Several measures have been taken by countries worldwide to reduce the spread of COVID-19. As some countries start to experience a decrease in the intensity of the spread, the question ‘how to safely go back to normal’ arises. As COVID-19 is not likely to stop being a medical emergency anytime soon, authorities are assessing how they can slowly allow businesses and citizens to resume their ‘normal’ activities, with the virus still being present.
One of the approaches to have a better control of the medical risk of going back to conventional social interactions is the use of contact-tracing
COVID-19 dashboards
With COVID-19 currently spreading rapidly across the globe, every citizen, specialist and policy maker wants to have reliable and understandable information at her/his fingertips. Many countries in and outside Europe have created dashboards displaying relevant data, such as the number of confirmed cases, of recovered and deceased patients, in a multitude of ways (e.g. graphs, tables or maps) and updated regularly.
These dashboards are valuable to anyone who has an interest in understanding and analysing the data describing the development of the pandemic. Health
COVID-19 is spreading rapidly across the globe. This spread has led national governments to take a wide range of measures, such as closing public spaces and schools, and introducing travel bans. However, these governmental responses and the pace at which they occur vary significantly from one country to another. These differences have created a debate between policymakers and the public on the appropriate response to the situation.
The Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker was created by the University of Oxford. It documents government responses to COVID-19 in different countries
Openly available data on COVID-19 can contribute to the global effort in fighting the virus. To play its part in combatting this pandemic, the European Data Portal (EDP) team is shifting its focus on making COVID-19 related open data discoverable.
Several datasets relating to the pandemic are already available on the EDP via the national open data portals. As of today, Monday 6 April 2020, a new “EDP for COVID-19” section is available. In this new section, a list of datasets, data initiatives, and data stories that have been curated by the EDP COVID-19 team can be found. This piece is the
