Opinion | How cities can avoid costly lockdowns with smart use of big data

  • Instead of locking down an entire city, officials can shut down or reconfigure specific locations with a high potential to trigger outbreaks by tapping big data
  • As lockdowns can be devastating for businesses, a robust, data-grounded approach can help governments justify tough decisions

Commuters alight at Admiralty MTR station on August 19. Tracking human mobility and combining that data with epidemiological evidence can help cities pinpoint areas at risk of super-spreading events without having to shut down the entire city and its economy. Photo: Nora Tam

You impose a lockdown. With people confined indoors, shops close and the economy grinds to a halt. Your Covid-19 infections fall to pleasing numbers, and soon it appears safe to end the lockdown and reopen your economy. Businesses open, people come out in droves and some sense of normalcy returns.

Before you know it, new virus outbreaks emerge and clusters expand and spread, threatening to overwhelm your health care services. You impose a lockdown, rinse and repeat.

Print option is available for subscribers only.
SUBSCRIBE NOW
Copyright © 2025 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.