The COVID-19 crisis has engulfed several countries, leaving policymakers perplexed and unprepared to deal with the situation. Choosing the most appropriate course of action has become more challenging as a result of the infection and its effects on the body. While dealing with the coronavirus crisis and the stress that goes with it, new information technologies are critical in addressing and alleviating that stress. As a result, new information technology capabilities are required to address the challenges confronting policymakers when dealing with pandemic diseases such as COVID-19 in the past. As a result of the systematic review process used in this study, the best available evidence is synthesised from text and opinion to provide actionable advice to policymakers. The findings indicate that the challenges fall into two categories: battling the disease and mitigating its effects. Furthermore, the internet of things, cloud computing, machine learning, and social networking all contribute significantly to resolving these issues.
TopIntroduction
Numerous benefits and scenarios can be facilitated in our daily lives by new information technologies and industry 4.0 innovations, such as cloud computing, the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI) and big data (Ali, 2019, 2020; M. Ali, 2019; Ali M et al., 2018; Ali & Abdel-Haq, 2021; Ali & Edghiem, 2021; Ali et al., 2017; Ali, 2021; Ali et al., 2020a, 2020b). They are not only used for routine tasks; they are also used to determine life and death. At the moment, the world is experiencing an unprecedented global health crisis as a result of COVID-19, which is putting a significant strain on our societies (Okereafor, 2021). As a result, policymakers have encountered a variety of difficulties. When addressing the COVID-19 crisis, it is critical to pay close attention to policymakers' challenges and concerns. Information technology can be fully utilised in crisis management in this situation. Personal, organisational, and practical capabilities necessary to address the coronavirus crisis are embedded in a variety of information technology applications. When a crisis strikes, one of the most effective tools available to policymakers is information technology. The absorptive capacity of information system theories has had a profound effect on the scope and capability of information technology use (Vishwanath et al., 2019). The capacity of a country to absorb new knowledge and innovations is viewed as one of its strengths. Two critical factors can aid a country's system in becoming more innovative: its innovation capability and its absorption capacity. Emulation capabilities for future technology-related activities will be enhanced as a result of innovative efforts and investments. Increased absorption capacity has the potential to improve innovation dynamics while increasing R&D productivity and fortifying the country's policy commitment to technology-related activities (Castellacci, 2013). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and policymakers' confusion, policymakers face a number of difficulties when dealing with a pandemic crisis. Following that, emerging information technologies are discussed as a potential solution. Therefore, this research presented the following questions to address these concerns:
RQ1: What are the main obstacles that policymakers face in dealing with the COVID crisis?
RQ2: To what extent can new information technologies help us address these problems, and what are those capabilities?
Following the below methodology, the results and conclusion are presented.
TopResearch Methodology
We conducted this investigation using a variety of sources, including books and online articles. Key search terms used as part of the investigation include “pandemic challenges,” “pandemic management challenges,” “pandemic challenges,” and “Coronavirus challenges.” Between October 4th and October 11th 2021, Google Scholar was used to conduct the search. The authors sifted through the results and continued until they came across insignificant findings. Additionally, experts were consulted regarding the difficulties faced by policymakers during previous pandemic crises. Individuals who have published at least one article or have managerial experience in this field are considered experts in pandemic crisis management (see Table 1). For the sake of completeness, we included all publications that addressed at least one significant challenge. These sources shaped the initial framework of policymakers' challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors developed the framework after consulting with experts, implementing best practises, and adding interpretations to previously published articles. The authors investigated new information technologies and their applications to the challenges in the second research question. A literature review was conducted to ascertain the validity and accuracy of the aforementioned claims (Moher et al., 2009).