Innovating our way out of a once-in-a-century pandemic, with no sign that this pandemic will end anytime soon, individuals, businesses, and governments alike have realized that life cannot go on as it always has.
With this pandemic, Ng believes that "there cannot be a greater pressing need" for an acceleration of the adoption of blockchain by society.
A blockchain solution can help plug this gap: trusted data from individuals, state authorities, and health institutions can be stored in the blockchain to prevent them from being tampered with, and retrieved for future use, as necessary.
For example, blockchain may be used to store health care workers' health and safety credentials and track their movements through medical facilities.
Then, "in case (one) worker tests positive, the system has a blockchain record of every ward the health care worker has visited, and can [help contact tracers] detect where the infection was picked up," says Ng.
Such a contact-tracing strategy could also be deployed for the general population, whose medical records could also be securely stored on the blockchain.