GOVERNMENT ACTIVITIES

Government activities on COVID

COVID-19 pushes more government activities online despite persisting digital divide 10 July 2020, New York Denmark, Korea and Estonia top the 2020 UN e-government ranking. As the COVID-19 pandemic forces lockdowns, most countries and municipalities are pursuing digital government strategies, many with innovative initiatives – but vast numbers of people still do not have access to online services, according to the 2020 edition of the United Nations E‑Government Survey, released today. The 2020 ranking of the 193 UN Member States in terms of digital government – capturing the scope and quality of online services, status of telecommunication infrastructure and existing human capacity – is led by Denmark, the Republic of Korea, and Estonia, followed by Finland, Australia, Sweden, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, the United States of America, the Netherlands, Singapore, Iceland, Norway and Japan. Among the least developed countries, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Cambodia have become leaders in digital government development, advancing from the middle to the high E-Government Development Index (EGDI) group in 2020. Mauritius, the Seychelles, and South Africa are leading the e-government ranking in Africa. Overall, 65 per cent of Member States are at the high or very high EGDI level. “The pandemic has renewed and anchored the role of digital government – both in its conventional delivery of digital services as well as new innovative efforts in managing the crisis,” said Mr. Liu Zhenmin, UN Under‑Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs. In responding to the health emergency, governments have put in place new tools, such as dedicated COVID-19 information portals, hackathons, e-services for supply of medical goods, virtual medical appointments, self-diagnosis apps and e-permits for curfews. Many countries were quick to deploy tracking and tracing apps, and apps for working and learning from home. Innovative digital government responses to COVID-19 include online dashboards in Canada and Australia to share information and track emergency responses. In China, chatbots are used to assess patients’ risk of being infected. A community engagement app in Estonia allowed local governments to directly interact with their constituents, including through sharing COVID-19 information, posting photos and videos and even organizing virtual events. In Croatia, a “virtual doctor” is powered by artificial intelligence and developed by technology firms in cooperation with epidemiologists. In London, the use of cameras, sensors and AI algorithms, normally intended to control traffic, now measures distance between pedestrians to control social distance. E-government progress still hindered by digital divide As a development tool, the E-Government Survey examines countries’ strengths, challenges and opportunities, and informs policies and strategies. The 2020 edition found that progress has been made across all regions, even in the least developed countries. Over 22 per cent of countries were promoted to higher levels of e-government development. “While e-government rankings tend to correlate with the income level of a country, financial resources are not the only critical factor in advancing digital government,” added Liu Zhenmin. “A country’s political will, strategic leadership and commitment to advance digital services, can improve its comparative ranking.” Yet, despite the gains and major investments in e-government by many countries, the digital divide persists. Seven out of eight countries with low scores are in Africa and belong to the least developed countries group. The regional average index scores for countries in Africa are almost one third lower (at 0.3914) than the world average EGDI of 0.60. Alongside these trends, the COVID-19 pandemic has now not only reinvigorated the role of digital government in its conventional delivery of public services and in ensuring business continuity, it has also brought about innovative ways in managing the crisis, such as in contact tracing, e-health, online learning, and remote working. About the UN E-Government Survey The UN E-Government Survey, published by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), is prepared over a two-year period following an established methodology.

It looks at how digital government can facilitate integrated policies and services across 193 UN Member States. The Survey supports countries’ efforts to provide effective, accountable and inclusive digital services to all and to bridge the digital divide and leave no one behind. In the report of the Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation, the E-Government Survey is recognized as a key ranking, mapping and measuring tool, supporting the digital transformation of countries. Following the global launch of the 2020 Survey on 10 July, technical webinars are scheduled to share further insights and key findings at the global, regional and local levels, including on thematic areas such as e-participation, data governance and capacities for digital transformation. Regional information sessions will be held in the following months in collaboration with UN Regional Commissions. In addition to the English edition, the Survey will also be made available in Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish, thanks to the collaboration with external partners. Related information 2020 United Nations E-Government Survey

Giving some regions the green light to reopen, on the basis of relatively strong health and public readiness, is an opportunity to lift restrictive measures in a way that best balances health risks and socioeconomic concerns. And when a region sees a recurrence of the disease, this graduated approach makes it easier to drive swift but hard decisions to reimpose measures at a local rather than national level. If coordinated well, a staggered approach by region also presents an invaluable opportunity for regions to learn from the experience of “early restarters” and adjust accordingly. Giving some regions the green light to reopen, on the basis of relatively strong health and public readiness, is an opportunity to lift restrictive measures in a way that best balances health risks and socioeconomic concerns. For most countries, getting to an appropriate level of readiness in the virus monitoring system will be the greatest challenge. More testing provides better information about individual and local risk levels—and that enables better targeting of restriction measures. With limited testing, widespread lockdowns are necessary. But high levels of testing make it easier to detect disease, which in turn makes it more feasible to use contact tracing rather than other more restrictive measures to mitigate the spread of disease. As governments push to increase testing capacity, it will be vital to understand what level of disease detection is possible with a specific testing level and approach, such as the extent of testing of asymptomatic individuals. As an example, BCG modeling of the German population suggests that a testing rate of six or seven tests per 1,000 people per day would yield an 80% probability of detecting a chain of infection within 12 to 18 days of the initial infection and a 99% probability of detecting the chain within 18 to 30 days. Governments that are able to ramp up testing aggressively must also invest in robust tracking and tracing capabilities. Governments will need a large workforce to manually reconstruct infection chains and to ensure that authorities preventatively quarantine and test affected individuals. Many governments are already mobilizing furloughed workers, and even military reservists, to quickly ramp up these operations. This process should be supported by digital solutions, now widely available. Singapore’s TraceTogether app, an opt-in service for citizens, uses Bluetooth to map the people an individual has been in contact with, and for how long, and notifies users if they have been exposed to someone testing positive for COVID-19. The app’s software is open source, free to replicate and modify. In China, the digital Health Code app—with more than 800 million users—traces contacts and provides an individualized health certificate based on real-time information. A “green code” allows an individual to access common spaces, like office buildings and retail locations. Establish a Framework for How to Reopen. For each of the five readiness levels, national governments should then provide practical guidance for activity, including restrictions and expectations of behavior. These guidelines would articulate, for example, the people-related restrictions (such as movement, distancing, gathering sizes, and protective wear), place-related restrictions (such as temperature checks at entry points, maximum capacity, and hygiene and cleaning standards), and minimum testing, tracing, and tracking standards.

The guidelines should be applied and implemented wherever possible by local governments. Localization is important because it recognizes that within a country different regions and cities will face different contexts requiring different approaches to meet the national guidelines. For example, reopening a retailer in a densely populated urban area is a different challenge requiring different precautions than reopening a store in a small rural town. At the same time, industry leaders, with specialized knowledge, can leverage the guidelines to create playbooks for how companies in their business should operate in areas that are at different readiness levels. This approach ensures that major employers, trade associations, unions, and other key players are actively engaged in and supportive of the reopening process. As areas move out of the “red” readiness level and prepare to reopen, a key question is whether specific types of businesses or activities should open first. One approach is a hands-off model, whereby government permits any activity that is consistent with the guidelines. While this avoids prioritizing one sector or industry over another, this approach leaves governments with fewer levers to reverse course if an outbreak materializes. The alternative is to establish a sequence in which sectors or industries that offer greater socioeconomic benefits open first. Such an approach ensures a more gradual resumption of activity while prioritizing activities that may deliver the most societal impact. For example, in Austria, small standalone retail shops and craft services will form the first wave of reopening (with maximum one customer per 20 square meters and mandatory face masks). The government is opening those businesses first owing to its commitment to support hard-hit small business owners and because small retailers are generally patronized by local residents, lowering the risk of transmission from one neighborhood to another. Under either approach, governments may need to think separately about how to reopen schools and day care centers. In some countries, those institutions are an essential enabler for the rest of the economy, allowing significant numbers of parents to return to work. Both Denmark and Germany have announced they will open schools in the first wave of reopening. Execute with Transparency and Ensure the Ability to Adjust the Strategy. Once the strategy is set, governments need to execute in a way that builds public trust and allows for adjustments as conditions change. Public trust and economic confidence are important for maintaining social cohesion and restoring economic growth. Trust in the approach is also important because citizens, businesses, and organizations themselves must play an active role in making the strategy succeed by adapting to the “new normal” behaviors. Ultimately, overly aggressive enforcement measures may undermine public support. That’s why governments should identify and support tools that encourage voluntary positive behavior. This includes, for example, supporting employers with appropriate signage to encourage distancing and hand washing, guiding retailers on placing distancing markers in their stores, and using public information campaigns to explain how each individual has an important role to play.

Governments should also be as transparent as possible in terms of both the strategy itself and the data used to drive decision-making and compliance activities. Many governments have adopted live dashboards to provide data and updates on the health crisis with the public. These dashboards can also share information relevant to reopening, such as the readiness status of a given area and what needs to happen for the status to change.Governments should also ensure they are able to adjust their strategy as conditions change, including by adopting scenario planning. The public should not expect governments to predict exactly how this pandemic will play out, but people can expect a plan to resume a new normal that anticipates likely scenarios, and the willingness to listen, learn, and adapt. The public should not expect governments to predict exactly how this pandemic will play out, but people can expect a plan that anticipates likely scenarios. At the same time, governments should develop rapid feedback loops to capture information and insights on how their strategy is working—or not working. This includes engaging with employers, unions, industry associations, and civil society organizations to get their input on how guidelines and standards are working in reality. Governments should also find ways to capture and acknowledge feedback directly from citizens. A starting point is to provide a digital platform to interact with citizens. In the UK, for example, local authorities are conducting public meetings using digital platforms, and the NHS has launched an online crowdsourcing exercise to explore ways to mitigate the effects of self-isolation. Enlisting citizens in this effort, so that they recognize real health and welfare benefits from being engaged in the restart, is an imperative. Governments around the world have weathered economic shocks before—most recently the financial crisis and recession of the late 2000s. But the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic is different. There is no modern analog for the shutdown of economic activity in most of the world. Governments will need to develop a novel strategy for reopening their societies and economies. The strategy must include clear national guidelines on when to reopen based on health care and public readiness. It should also provide national guidance on how to open, with execution driven by state, regional, and local leaders. The strategy must also be transparent in order to build public trust and include mechanisms for collecting feedback and adjusting as conditions change. Governments that develop and implement such strategies will be able to successfully navigate amid chaos and chart a clear path toward the new normal.

What is the World Economic Forum doing about the coronavirus outbreak? Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic requires global cooperation among governments, international organizations and the business community, which is at the centre of the World Economic Forum’s mission as the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation. How can we collaborate to stop the spread of COVID-19? Since its launch on 11 March, the Forum’s COVID Action Platform has brought together 1,667 stakeholders from 1,106 businesses and organizations to mitigate the risk and impact of the unprecedented global health emergency that is COVID-19. The platform is created with the support of the World Health Organization and is open to all businesses and industry groups, as well as other stakeholders, aiming to integrate and inform joint action. As an organization, the Forum has a track record of supporting efforts to contain epidemics. In 2017, at our Annual Meeting, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) was launched – bringing together experts from government, business, health, academia and civil society to accelerate the development of vaccines. CEPI is currently supporting the race to develop a vaccine against this strand of the coronavirus. Show

Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic requires global cooperation among governments, international organizations and the business community, which is at the centre of the World Economic Forum’s mission as the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation. How can we collaborate to stop the spread of COVID-19? Since its launch on 11 March, the Forum’s COVID Action Platform has brought together 1,667 stakeholders from 1,106 businesses and organizations to mitigate the risk and impact of the unprecedented global health emergency that is COVID-19. The platform is created with the support of the World Health Organization and is open to all businesses and industry groups, as well as other stakeholders, aiming to integrate and inform joint action. As an organization, the Forum has a track record of supporting efforts to contain epidemics. In 2017, at our Annual Meeting, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) was launched – bringing together experts from government, business, health, academia and civil society to accelerate the development of vaccines. CEPI is currently supporting the race to develop a vaccine against this strand of the coronavirus.