Table 1.

Research opportunities amid COVID-19.

Research Themes	Opportunity for integrating emerging technologies
Physical distancing and social distancing	•There is a need for low-cost preventive technology-based measures to monitor and improve physical distancing and social distancing especially in social and religious gatherings, bus ranks, cities and towns. •Developing strategic ways and technologies of engaging communities including people living in resource-constrained areas to educate them about the Coronavirus, preventive measures, mental health issues and provision of counselling services
Mental health and Substance Abuse	•Find ways of integrating modern technologies in providing mental health services to the affected people while maintaining physical distancing and social distancing •Integration of smart apps for remote monitoring of human activity and recognition
Contact Tracing	•There is a need for developing low-cost and adaptive contact tracing apps for monitoring and tracing COVID-19 patients and close contacts while enforcing security and privacy of health data •Integration of Geographical Information System (GIS) technology into contact tracing apps for monitoring migration patterns of patients and contact-persons. This technology can be used for mapping COVID-19 hotspots areas for effective and efficiency allocate of resources to combat the pandemic •Integration of Internet of Things and big data into contact tracing apps for real-time access, sharing, storing and processing of COVID-19 data to disseminate insightful patterns from the data for the decision-making process. •Ways of creating a balance in contact tracing apps between containment of COVID-19 and security and privacy of health data
Gender-Based Violence	•Integration of mobile applications (apps) in reporting GBV cases •Big data to store names of GBV perpetrators and remotely monitor their behaviour •Integration of Internet of Things and mobile apps for remote counselling and virtual consultations of GBV victims •GIS technology to monitor the migration patterns GBV perpetrators •Intensify “Stop Gender-based Violence” campaigns on radio, instant messaging, SMS, teleconferences, television and evaluate the effectiveness of these platforms •Find strategies to involve vulnerable women living in resource-constrained areas in South Africa