The ongoing Abu Dhabi International Book Fair served as the launchpad for a new book from a government official. The work outlines the proactive strategies and ingenious tactics employed by the local authorities in their effort to curb the spread of Covid-19.

Penned by Dr Mohamed Al Kuwaiti, the UAE Government’s head of cybersecurity, the book christened ‘AI and Big Data in the Battle Against Covid-19’ provides engrossing revelations about the way the authorities wielded state-of-the-art technologies.

The book delves into the pivotal role of technology in UAE’s vaccination campaign, focusing on how it was employed to streamline the distribution of vaccines, thus ensuring prompt delivery to the nation’s citizens. Al Kuwaiti, currently the managing director of the National Data Centre under the Supreme Council for National Security, shared these insights.

Al Kuwaiti’s book details a host of efficient and effective initiatives such as the National Disinfection Programme, drive-through Covid-19 testing centres, field hospitals, economic stimulus packages, remote learning, strategy for food security, humanitarian initiatives, as well as guidelines on data privacy and confidentiality.

He brings to light the significant contribution of artificial intelligence and big data in monitoring and forecasting the trajectory of coronavirus, identifying susceptible populations, and highlighting high-risk zones for efficient containment and mitigation efforts.

By harnessing these emerging technologies, the UAE government exemplified an unwavering dedication to the preservation of health and wellness for everyone within the country.

Readers, Al Kuwaiti stressed, would glean valuable insights into the transformative effect of big data analytics powered by AI in managing the pandemic. This knowledge, he suggested, could fuel future endeavors in public health and crisis management.

The book outlined the multitude of challenges the UAE faced due to the virus, showcasing how the nation emerged as a trailblazer in using the force of AI and big data to confront the outbreak head-on. The country employed avant-garde machine learning algorithms and real-time big data analytics, offered by Presight, embarking on a mission of transformation to surmount the pandemic.

Presight, Abu Dhabi’s leading provider of AI and big data analytics solutions, was instrumental in facilitating the UAE’s nimble response to the pandemic. Its solutions gave the government the power to make rapid, data-driven decisions, ensuring the efficacious implementation of decisive actions amidst rapidly shifting circumstances.

Al Kuwaiti acknowledged that the efforts of the scientists, engineers, and analysts from Presight.ai were crucial for the successful handling of Covid-19 in the UAE in terms of policy formation and governmental decisions.

The book is divided into five chapters, covering areas such as big data analytics, forecasting and simulations, deep learning for Covid-19 infection, risk modeling and vaccine prioritization, knowledge graph and sentiment analysis, and contact tracing, quarantine enforcement, and location risk modeling.

The book signing ceremony took place at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC), organized by Trends Research and Advisory. The book is available for download on the Trends’ website.