Review Reports - The Integral Role of Intelligent IoT System, Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence, and 5G in the User-Level Self-Monitoring of COVID-19

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This paper proposed a self-diagnosis approach without any security risk for users’ data with low cost of cloud-based data analytics by using intelligent internet of things (IOT) system for collecting sensors data and processing it with artificial intelligence to improve efficiency and reduce the spread of COVID-19. The overall quality of the paper is good and the idea is interesting.

Some minor problems,

1. The relative work section can be improved, it is currently lacking details.

2. Some of the figures (e.g. 5,6,7) are in low resolutions, if you are using figures from the internet, you should reference the source.

Supplementary comments:
The paper highlights how the use of IoT systems, 5G, AI, and cloud computing technologies have effectively supported the management and monitoring of the impact of COVID-19. Given the relevance of this paper to the main theme of the special issue, it is expected to attract a substantial readership among MDPI researchers and practitioners. Therefore, I highly recommend accepting this draft for the special issue, subject to minor revisions that need to be made.
In terms of revisions, I suggest the following:
1.       The title should be reworded to "Self-Monitoring of COVID-19" and remove the mitigation part as it does not provide solutions for COVID-19 mitigation.
2.       In line 695, correct the grammar mistakes. For example, "First world countries were waiting for…" would be better than "First world countries are using these technologies while waiting for vaccination as technologies are easy to deploy, whereas vaccine production and certification takes months in some years."
3.       Update Figure 1 with the latest data as the graph currently shows data up until April 2022.
4.       Include WHO's total number of deaths, active cases, and vaccination details in the introduction section.

Author Response

Response to comments from reviewer 1

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Response

We would like to express our sincere appreciation and gratitude to the reviewer for their valuable insights on our “The Integral Role of Intelligent IOT system, Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence, and 5G in the User-Level Self-Monitoring of COVID-19” manuscript proposing a self-Monitoring approach for COVID-19. Their recognition of the quality of our work and the potential impact of our idea is greatly encouraging. We also appreciate their keen attention to detail from grammatical mistakes, figures and referencing and outdated figures with old statistic. Their feedback has helped us identify minor issues in our paper that we have addressed in our revised manuscript. We are grateful for their expertise and thoughtful suggestions, and we have ensured that their feedback is incorporated in a way that enhances the clarity and impact of our work. Thank you for your time and effort in providing us with invaluable feedback

The relative work section can be improved; it is currently lacking details.

We acknowledge your valuable feedback regarding the relative work section of our paper and concur with your viewpoint that additional elaboration is required. We appreciate your insightful suggestions, and we have made minor modifications to the said section in order to address the issue.

Some of the figures (e.g., 5,6,7) are in low resolutions, if you are using figures from the internet, you should reference the source.

Response

I want to express my gratitude to the reviewer for their assistance in correcting the figures and referencing in our manuscript. Their valuable feedback allowed us to identify and rectify errors, ensuring that the figures are now accurate and referenced correctly. I appreciate their contribution to our work and their commitment to improving the quality of our manuscript. Once again, thank you for your insightful feedback

Supplementary comments:

The paper highlights how the use of IoT systems, 5G, AI, and cloud computing technologies have effectively supported the management and monitoring of the impact of COVID-19. Given the relevance of this paper to the main theme of the special issue, it is expected to attract a substantial readership among MDPI researchers and practitioners. Therefore, I highly recommend accepting this draft for the special issue, subject to minor revisions that need to be made. In terms of revisions, I suggest the following:

The title should be reworded to "Self-Monitoring of COVID-19" and remove the mitigation part as it does not provide solutions for COVID-19 mitigation.

Response

I would like to express my gratitude to the reviewer for suggesting that we modify the title of our paper. As per their recommendation, I have removed the mitigation aspect and updated the title to focus solely on the monitoring of Covid-19. The new title reads:

“The Integral Role of Intelligent IOT system, Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence, and 5G in the User-Level Self-Monitoring of COVID-19.”

In line 695, correct the grammar mistakes. For example, “First world countries were waiting for…" would be better than “First world countries are using these technologies while waiting for vaccination as technologies are easy to deploy, whereas vaccine production and certification takes months in some years."

Response

I want to thank the reviewer for pointing out the grammar mistake in my manuscript. I have made the necessary corrections in line 695. The corrected sentence is: 'First world countries were waiting for vaccination while using these technologies, as they are easy to deploy, whereas vaccine production and certification can take several months or even years.' Thank you for your help in improving the quality of our work."

Update Figure 1 with the latest data as the graph currently shows data up until April 2022.

Response

I wish to convey my deepest appreciation to the esteemed reviewer for their invaluable feedback. I expeditiously acted upon their input and meticulously updated Figure 1 with the latest and most accurate statistics sourced directly from the WHO Covid-19 dashboard as of April 3, 2023. The reviewer's suggestion has been instrumental in enhancing the veracity and importance of our work, and I am sincerely thankful for their contribution.

Include WHO's total number of deaths, active cases, and vaccination details in the introduction section.

Response

Thank you for your invaluable input. I promptly took action and meticulously updated the statistics in the table with the most current and veracious information sourced directly from the WHO website. The updated statistics now present a holistic view of the present circumstances, encompassing the total number of Covid-19 cases, active cases, fatalities, and vaccination details. Your suggestion played an integral role in guaranteeing the precision and dependability of our data, and I express my sincere gratitude for your contribution

Reviewer 2 Report

This paper provides a concise overview of the coronavirus epidemic before COVID-19 and the preventive and mitigation measures implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic. It primarily focuses on elucidating the application scenarios of cutting-edge technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), AI, and 5G to ameliorate the deleterious effects of the pandemic in diverse countries across the globe. The insights garnered from this research can serve as a valuable point of reference for formulating and implementing efficacious epidemic prevention and control strategies. However, to improve the overall paper structure and relevance to the special issue, the following issues necessitate due consideration:

1. A new section before the conclusion should be added to discuss the following point, enhancing the overall paper structure and relevance to the special issue. The interoperability and collaboration of the IoT system, cellular technologies like 4G, 5G, and 6G, AI, and cloud computing should be discussed in detail.

2. The paper should include examples of the use of emerging technologies in the later stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in different countries.

3. A summary of the latest numbers of active cases, deaths, and other relevant statistics should be included, as Figure 1 is outdated.

By making these revisions, the paper will provide a more detailed and comprehensive analysis of the application scenarios of cutting-edge technologies to mitigate the deleterious effects of COVID-19. This will enhance the relevance of the paper to the special issue and provide a valuable point of reference for the formulation and implementation of epidemic prevention and control strategies.

Author Response

Reviewers 2

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This paper provides a concise overview of the coronavirus epidemic before COVID-19 and the preventive and mitigation measures implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic. It primarily focuses on elucidating the application scenarios of cutting-edge technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT),AI, and 5G to ameliorate the deleterious effects of the pandemic in diverse countries across the globe. The insights garnered from this research can serve as a valuable point of reference for formulating and implementing efficacious epidemic prevention and control strategies. However, to improve the overall paper structure and relevance to the special issue, the following issues necessitate due consideration:

A new section before the conclusion should be added to discuss the following point, enhancing the overall paper structure and relevance to the special issue. The interoperability and collaboration of the IoT system, cellular technologies like 4G, 5G, and 6G, AI, and cloud computing should be discussed in detail.

Response

Thank you for taking the time for the review and comments. We greatly appreciate your feedback and have thoroughly considered your comments regarding the role of emerging technologies. We have included a new section " Role of Internet of Intelligence System and Emerging Technologies in Monitoring of pandemics" from line 693 to 713 to cover the importance of emerging technologies for Covid-19 control and monitoring.

We acknowledge the necessary revisions needed to improve the quality of this section, and we are pleased to inform you that we have made the appropriate changes.

The paper should include examples of the use of emerging technologies in the later stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in different countries.

Response

Thank you for providing feedback on our paper regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. We greatly appreciate your suggestions to include examples of the use of emerging technologies in the later stages of the pandemic in different countries.

We are pleased to confirm that we have added specific examples of the use of emerging technologies during the later stages of the pandemic in China and the United States. These examples have been added to the section on "Role of Internet of Intelligence System and Emerging Technologies in Monitoring of pandemics" from line 693 to 713.

We appreciate your time and effort in providing us with this feedback, and we believe that the inclusion of these examples will help to improve the quality and relevance of our paper. Thank you again for your valuable input, and we look forward to submitting an updated version of our paper that meets the high standards of our publication.

A summary of the latest numbers of active cases, deaths, and other relevant statistics should be included, as Figure 1 is outdated.

Response