How China has turned to tech like never before to combat the coronavirus

Visits to medical-related mini-programs on Chinese super app WeChat rose 347% over the past 20 days, compared to data recorded in December. The impact of the countrywide lockdown on the economy has the potential to cut China’s gross domestic product growth in the first quarter from 6% to 4.5%. — SCMP

When Zhang Ge first donned protective clothing as part of his job as an engineer with a robotics company, it was not to prevent contamination of the delicate electronic circuitry inside his company’s hi-tech products. The 28-year-old had been sent to Wuhan, epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, to install catering robots in a hospital at the front lines of the fight to contain the deadly disease.

Zhang was among more than 20 engineers from Shenzhen-based robotics company Pudu Technology assigned to install the robots in over 40 hospitals around the country. His task was to program the robots according to the layout of the hospital so they could automatically deliver cooked food and medication to patients’ bedsides.