Title: Covid-19 and future outbreaks forecast using Block chain and IoT

Abstract

Preparing for a pandemic is a major challenge due to the many unbalanced factors involved. This task becomes even more difficult especially when another pandemic is already ongoing, and humanity is still struggling to overcome it. It becomes more difficult when the scientific community has to face additional challenges while new threatening variants appear (Delta, Omicron) and citizens in many countries are reluctant to be vaccinated. Although there is an impression that COVID-19 is an event that may occur “once in a century”, this is far from the truth. The chances of a new pandemic strike never cease to lurk, and it is extremely difficult to predict the time and place where it will occur. Therefore, humanity must act swiftly to prepare itself to deal more effectively with a new pandemic threat. This can be achieved primarily by heavily utilizing the precious knowledge that was gained over the last few years but also by taking advantage of modern technologies and the reliable tools they offer. Among the groundbreaking technologies, Internet of Things and Blockchain are two that, both individually but most importantly, combined can guide these preparations and create a credible environment for collaboration between governments, health organizations, and other relevant bodies. This paper presents the aforementioned technologies and the benefits they can bring to stop predict future pandemics as early as possible and intercept them before they spread out.