COVID-19 poses a significant burden to populations worldwide. Although the pandemic has accelerated digital transformation, little is known about the influence of digitalization on pandemic developments. Therefore, this country-level study aims to explore the impact of pre-pandemic digital adoption on COVID-19 outcomes and government measures. Using the Digital Adoption Index (DAI), we examined the association between countries' digital preparedness levels and COVID-19 cases, deaths, and stringency indices (SI) of government measures until March 2021. Gradient Tree Boosting based algorithm pinpointed essential features related to COVID-19 trends, such as digital adoption, populations' smoker fraction, age, and poverty. Subsequently, regression analyses indicated that higher DAI was associated with significant declines in new cases (β = − 362.25/pm; p < 0.001) and attributed deaths (β = − 5.53/pm; p < 0.001) months after the peak. When plotting DAI against the SI normalized for the starting day, countries with higher DAI adopted slightly more stringent government measures (β = 4.86; p < 0.01). Finally, a scoping review identified 70 publications providing valuable arguments for our findings. Countries with higher DAI before the pandemic show a positive trend in handling the pandemic and facilitate the implementation of more decisive governmental measures. Further distribution of digital adoption may have the potential to attenuate the impact of COVID-19 cases and deaths.
COVID-19 poses a significant burden to populations worldwide. Although the pandemic has accelerated digital transformation, little is known about the influence of digitalization on pandemic developments. Therefore, this country-level study aims to explore the impact of digital adoption on COVID-19 outcomes and government measures. Using the Digital Adoption Index (DAI), we examined the association between countries' digital preparedness levels and COVID-19 cases, deaths, and stringency indices (SI) of government measures during the early phase of the pandemic. Gradient Tree Boosting pinpointed essential features related to COVID-19 trends, such as digital adoption, populations' smoker fraction, age, and poverty. Subsequently, regression analyses indicated that higher DAI was associated with significant declines in new cases ( β =-362.25/pm; p<0.001) and attributed deaths ( β =-5.53/pm; p<0.001) months after the peak. When plotting DAI against the SI normalized for the starting day, countries with higher DAI adopted slightly more stringent government measures ( β =4.86; p<0.01). Finally, a scoping review identified 70 publications providing valuable arguments for our findings. Digital adoption shows a positive trend in handling the current pandemic and facilitates the implementation of more decisive governmental measures. Improving the distribution of digital adoption may have the potential to attenuate the impact of COVID-19 cases and deaths.
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