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Vitalik Buterin Donates $4M in USDC to New Pandemic Alert Service

The Ethereum co-founder donated $4 million in USDC to the Australian Kirby Institute to develop the EPIWATCH tool, which should provide early warning of virus outbreaks.

The Kirby Institute conducts medical research and is affiliated with the University of New South Wales in Sydney. According to statement organizations, the funds received will be used to develop an open source tool that will alert the possible emergence of viruses in various regions. The development of EPIWATCH began back in 2016, and the tool has already passed many tests. It uses data from open sources that are processed by artificial intelligence, the institute’s website says.

The tool scans real-time data in social networks and the rest of the Internet, analyzes news in the media. Based on the received data, the service can create early warnings about the possible onset of epidemics. According to the Kirby Institute, EPIWATCH will allow medical professionals, laboratories and public health authorities to prepare for a new outbreak of diseases like COVID-19, accelerate research or organize workflow as needed.

“EPIWATCH doesn’t depend on people making reports. This tool is able to overcome the “weaknesses” of health systems. It should be accessible to low- and middle-income countries, small towns and villages, supported in different languages. Imagine if someone predicted the emergence of COVID-19 even before it spread around the world, ”said Professor Raina MacIntyre, head of the biosecurity research program.

Vitalik Buterin said the sooner new outbreaks are discovered, the sooner virologists can start developing treatments and prevent the spread of viruses. Open analysis of publicly available data could be a great alternative to other forms of data monitoring that are only available to governments and not available to the public, Buterin said.

Last year, the Ethereum co-founder sold his holdings of SHIB, AKITA, and ELON meme cryptocurrencies, donating the proceeds to several charities, including India’s COVID-Crypto Relief. However, at the beginning of the year, this fund returned the money to Buterin due to the fact that Indian laws prohibit the use of crypto assets as a source of funding.

Source: Bits

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