As the COVID-19 situation became more severe every day, China started a nationwide voluntary quarantine to help control the virus from spreading. Travel restrictions and virus prevention measures put extreme pressure on insurtech startups to innovate and improve the current service structure in response to the situation. In February, the conventional offline business of insurers was left with only 5% compared to what it was before the virus outbreak. At least nine major Chinese insurers have issued specific plans to the public in case of COVID-19 for free. The current situation is an enormous challenge and chance for the industry to adapt and restructure with frontline technology and innovation.

Haola Tech

During the COVID-19 outbreak, people were in a panic worrying about their own risk of catching COVID-19. Symptoms of COVID-19 are extremely similar to the common flu, including cough, fever, tiredness, and shortness of breath. Haola Tech launched an AI-driven COVID-19 online self-evaluation tool for the public to measure the risk of infection, alongside with another tool to evaluate the physical and psychological health of individuals during the outbreak, to help monitor COVID-19 infection risk, quality of sleep, level of panic, and depression. 

Ins for Renascence

Ins for Renascence was the First to launch the “Zero-Contact” advance payment system for hospitals. Clients can quickly authorize the platform with their medical records and insurance plans through their WeChat official account. The Big Data risk control model and medical fee model will detect the advance payment amount of the client. The client can then use the fund to pay for their medical bills at hospitals with QR code. The medical cost will later be paid to the platform directly by their insurers so that the individuals don’t have to generate funds or use cash to pay for medical bills.

GetyAI

GetyAI is an IoT startup dedicated to empowering automated driving technology with its new AI monitoring system. During the COVID-19 outbreak, GetyAI used its telematics technology in the fleet transporting medical supplies for fighting the virus to ensure the safety of transportation during this particular time of need. Its monitoring system can be smoothly operated from home under the nationwide quarantine circumstances, providing ample support for the frontline crew members and staff. In response to COVID-19, GetyAI updated its system to add new features, including 24-hour monitoring system and facial detection function to detect facial expressions and masks, which can automatically mark abnormal data and alert the operators. In addition, GetyAI also quickly decided to put all R&D resources on developing temperature detection products to help alleviate the shortage of medical monitoring equipment.

YiTong Health

YiTong Health launched a unique online monitoring platform for enterprises to monitor the health of employees during the COVID-19 outbreak. The tool can generate daily health reports of employees, automatic evaluation of COVID-19 risks, and provide COVID-19 precaution courses for employees. The tool is provided to the public for free during the outbreak.

Threatbook

Threatbook provides a free OneDNS service for individuals and corporates during the quarantine to ensure a safe and smooth environment for those working from home. The service does not have hardware requirements. The enterprise IT crew can easily prevent all kinds of malicious software, trojan horse, and worms under the work-from-home situation. It also supports online monitoring of the safety status of employees and subsidiaries through its Cloud platform.

LingBan AlaaS

LingBan AlaaS provides a free chatbot for communities to monitor the COVID-19 situation. It helps to conduct daily phone calls to check the health status of the neighborhood and automatically makes daily phone calls to the community members with a high risk of infection with COVID-19. The chatbot helped to perform tracking, monitoring, and screening of COVID-19 infection. Analytical results are presented in data format and eliminated the risk of social workers getting infected during the door-to-door census.

Doubao

Doubao partnered with Guahao.com to provide online diagnosis services. The platform provides free unlimited access to 24-hour online diagnosis for all types of illness. It helps to alleviate the shortage of hospital resources, makes the diagnosis of common disease, and gives instructions on simple self-treatment.

COVID-19 is continuing to spread across the globe. Plug and Play is working directly with US Government Agencies to find startups and technology to diagnose and mitigate its spread. If you are a startup with technology that can either diagnose or do rapid product development and can help, please apply here.

If you are a corporation looking for solutions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, please contact us here.