COVID-19 Impact on Cloud Computing in Healthcare Industry
The COVID-19 outbreak has remolded the conventional proceedings of healthcare organizations amidst overburdening and lack of resources. Market players that were solely dependent on hosted IT infrastructure and deficient cloud framework are grappling to keep operations smooth especially as the need for virtual consulting, mhealth & telemedicine is increasing. Then again, cutting edge cloud-first new companies that have received cloud innovation route before the COVID-19 emergency are stamping its focal points even in current conditions. Providing an answer to the limitations of hosted infrastructure, the cloud has given a platform to comply with the security regulations in healthcare, made it simpler to adjust to operational work process change, guaranteed a consistent patient-provider coordinated effort, and helped grasp a new health environment reality. As a result, cloud computing has proved to be of immense use for healthcare industry in these times.

With the coronavirus outbreak, emergency clinics and centers are being overwhelmed with the patients. The measure of information that should be created or shared and the speed at which it needs to happen is putting additional strain on overburdened medicinal services experts, fortunately for them, cloud computing could give a speedy, secure, and cost effective arrangement.

Cloud computing offers several advantages when it comes to ease of deployment overall cost, server management, scalability, speed, and security. The adoption of cloud computing is increasing in the aftermath of the pandemic in the healthcare industry as a necessity. However, several companies are facing different degrees of challenges while adopting this new infrastructure. According to the annual survey conducted by RightScale on the latest cloud trends named State of the Cloud Survey, businesses need to address below challenges for cloud adoption.
On the other hand, one of the primary advantages of cloud-based systems for healthcare is that managing data is no more a responsibility of the healthcare provider. With cloud service professionals keeping a watch and managing the system, healthcare providers are able to focus on other important facets of their responsibilities without deploying additional resources.

With cloud computing, it is easier to oversee the services that are paid for and take decisions that are cost-effective. By making a custom plan to fit the needs of the healthcare provider, a more cost-effective plan can be created than setting up own systems.

Cloud computing is also playing a major role in data sharing. During the COVID-19 outbreak, the need for sharing patient data across the healthcare system is higher than ever. Moreover, healthcare systems and its related parts create a great deal of information. For instance, clinical pictures and patient health information make up a ton of information. This information for the patient's whole lifetime needs to be stored, kept secure and shared with utmost reliability. Earlier on-premises systems capacity is badly designed and cloud registering gives a simpler alternative.

With expansion of data, speed is of crucial significance. Cloud computing makes it simple to transfer, share, and recuperate information across different healthcare systems. It additionally enables healthcare providers to make changes quicker. Data sharing and correspondence between hospitals, surgery centers, emergency clinics, and other healthcare providers has become easier with the adoption of cloud computing. During the pandemic, time is crucial and cloud computing can help in saving time.

Cloud processing has made some amazing progress with regards to tending to security concerns. The utilization of private and cross breed cloud frameworks has guaranteed that the clinical and health reimbursement related information of a patient stay secure. For instance, if a medical clinic has a virtual consultation service for patients, there can be a protected trade of information between the patient and the clinic utilizing cloud frameworks. As healthcare providers are attempting to increase application of telemedicine, cloud computing is anticipated to become necessary even after the pandemic subsides.

Cloud services are usually available in three types – IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service), and SaaS (Software as a Service). The below table summarizes the differences between hosted infrastructure and the three types of cloud computing services.

Table 1: Differentiation among Hosted, IaaS, PaaS, SaaS

Hosted

IaaS

PaaS

SaaS

Applications

Applications

Applications

Applications

Data

Data

Data

Data

Runtime

Runtime

Runtime

Runtime

Middleware

Middleware

Middleware

Middleware

O/S

O/S

O/S

O/S

Virtualization

Virtualization

Virtualization

Virtualization

Servers

Servers

Servers

Servers

Storage

Storage

Storage

Storage

Networking

Networking

Networking

Networking

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.During the pandemic, the primary opportunities offered by cloud computing to healthcare providers are scalability, easier update, and easier collaboration amongst others.

Scaling the operations using cloud computing is simpler as compared to on-premises infrastructure. Cloud permits to scale up or down rapidly, permitting organizations to meet present needs or reduce services ass per requirement, and furthermore consider future development.

The COVID-19 pandemic has also necessitated innovation and development for higher efficiency of healthcare systems. The need for redesigning frameworks and information is expected to contribute in the growth of cloud computing market in healthcare industry. Updating & refreshing information utilizing cloud is simpler and faster. Having a cloud-based framework empowers healthcare providers to refresh information, applications, and frameworks as fast as could reasonably be expected.

Cloud computing also helps in sharing of digital assets is to provide better services for patients. For instance, collaboration with other stakeholders can offer better types of assistance while working together. Joint efforts during the pandemic can prove beneficial for everybody.

The race for a COVID-19 coronavirus immunization is well in progress, with clinical researchers and health professionals around the globe undertaking measures to develop a vaccine as soon as possible. While it probably won't be the principal thing that comes into view in biomedical exploration, cloud-based infrastructure will assume a significant job in this procedure. Cloud processing offers adaptability and access that will permit specialists to get to the information and applications they have to create potential coronavirus antibodies rapidly and successfully.

With cloud-enabled access to data about the most recent viral strains, analysts can work together more adequately and create coronavirus immunizations all the more quickly. This framework has previously been instrumental in overseeing occasional influenza episodes in the course of the most recent decade.

Cloud Computing in Vaccine Research:
Cloud service providers have been taking measures for offering services for COVID-19 vaccine research. For instance, IBM Corporation is taking significant measures to increase accessibility of cloud-based AI research assets to clinical experts and researchers moving in the direction of COVID-19 treatment. On similar lines, in late March, Amazon Web Services (AWS) provided USD 20 million in cloud credits accessible as a component of its AWS diagnostic development initiative, which will sponsor investigation into symptomatic instruments identified with COVID-19 testing.

Similarly, Oracle has also contributed significantly in coronavirus antibody advancement. The organization has played crucial role in building cloud stages for clinical preliminaries and using it to rapidly reveal a couple of arrangements, utilizing its current Oracle Clinical Trials Systems to assemble information on COVID-19 medication testing and constructing the COVID-19 Therapeutic Learning System using the same. The company is provided the system to the U.S. government and specialists which fills in as a vault for all COVID-19 medicines being controlled.

Data Centers and COVID-19
Healthcare systems and clinical analysts are utilizing cloud computing for testing medicines and possible antibodies for COVID-19. In order to achieve the same, they need high performance data centers to obtain elevated levels of uptime and information accessibility while likewise permitting them to rapidly get to driving cloud stages. A large number of organizations are still dependent on obsolete data centers that are although dependable; pose scalability challenges to immediate cloud entrance for direct research quickly and successfully. Cloud-based data centers offer a solution to the same and expected to provide several advantages during the COVID-19 vaccine research.

Cloud Computing for mHealth & Telemedicine
During this pandemic, both health professionals and patients are at equal risk of contracting the infection in medical clinics or common healthcare centers. During this crucial time, telemedical practices can help providers to continue offering medicinal services distantly. These cutting edge clinical frameworks need to move the patient information back and forth at high speeds, something that cloud computing can enable effectively, while additionally keeping up the specialist persistent security. By utilizing cloud based infrastructure in mHealth & telemedicine, healthcare systems can have a protected framework to meet the needs of the hour.

Conclusion
The COVID-19 outbreak can utilize the favorable circumstances that cloud-based frameworks offer. It can be concluded that such frameworks can radically lessen the quantity of assets that would be required by in-house teams to oversee information. Cloud computing in healthcare is cost effective, and quick to deploy along with several other benefits which can prove to be of immense use during the pandemic. The accessibility of cloud permits medicinal services organizations to focus on offering better services, which is their core role instead of investing time & resources on IT.

The early adopters of cloud-based services are reaping the rewards of it for quite a while. The demands risen during the COVID-19 outbreak has demonstrated that cloud based healthcare services are not only feasible but necessary during the pandemic and after as well, cloud computing needs to be adopted in the healthcare industry in the current situation more than ever before.

Hence, we can safely conclude that cloud-based services have supported the health sector by making information more accessible, interoperable, secure EHR (electronic health record) stockpiling, and community oriented patient consideration progressively.

COVID-19 outbreak has asserted the need for digitization of the healthcare industry where a humongous amount of information is produced regularly. Currently companies are facing challenges in adopting cloud computing as mentioned earlier. However, to meet the healthcare needs during and after the COVID 19 pandemic, cloud computing is invaluable.