Virus outbreak spurs digital transformation in economy

Remote working, tele-medicine and online education

Remote working, tele-medicine and online education have also been springing up during the epidemic period. Digital and information-based tools provide solid support for companies to resume work and production.

DingTalk, an all-in-one mobile platform developed by Alibaba Group, has been widely used among workers and students. According to a DingTalk official, over 200 million employees from 10 million companies are working online via this platform, and an estimated 50 million students use DingTalk to have remote classes.

Hospital services have also moved online, with DXY.cn, Chunyu Doctors and several other medical platforms offering real-time diagnoses for patients. Apart from that, platforms also provide updated epidemic prevention and control tips and debunk the latest rumors for residents.

According to the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, the scale of the digital economy in China has been estimated to hit 35 trillion yuan, accounting for 35.4 percent of the total GDP in 2019. The digital sector has already become the new driving engine of the Chinese economy, and will continuously promote the optimization and upgrading of the economic structure.