Applications of AI and ML in Covid-19 (SARS-CoV-2): A Survey

Abstract: Artificial intelligence (AI) has been applied widely in our daily lives in a variety of ways with numerous successful stories. AI has also contributed to dealing with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, which has been happening around the globe. This paper presents a survey of AI methods being used in various applications in the fight against the COVID-19 outbreak and outlines the crucial roles of AI research in this unprecedented battle. We touch on a number of areas where AI plays as an essential component, from medical image processing, data analytics, text mining and natural language processing, the Internet of Things, to computational biology and medicine. Research directions on exploring the potentials of AI and enhancing its capabilities and power in the battle are thoroughly discussed. This paper aims to comprehensively review the role of AI and ML as one significant method in the arena of screening, predicting, forecasting, contact tracing, and drug development for SARS-CoV-2 and its related epidemic.

Keywords: Artificial intelligence; AI; machine learning; coronavirus; COVID-19; SARS CoV-2; pandemic; epidemic; outbreak; survey; review; overview; future research directions.