Towards an Ontology-based approach to the “new normality” after COVID-19: the Spanish case during pandemic first wave

The impact of the pandemic caused by COVID-19 has been immense in all fields of human activity. In most of the affected countries, the authorities have decreed a series of legal measures to try to stop the growth of the disease and the number of people affected by it. These legal measures involved, in most cases, restrictions on the free movement of people and on work and trade activities, new hygiene procedures, and social distancing. In the particular case of Spain, the rapid evolution of the pandemic led to the declaration of a so-called state of alarm and a period of confinement in private homes. The novelty of the situation and the large number of official decrees approved may have led to confusion among the Spanish population in some cases. In this context, in this paper we present an ontological approach that could be the germ of a knowledge base on the measures approved by the Spanish Government in relation to the pandemic during the so-called first wave (March-June 2020). This ontology has been developed in OWL (Ontology Web Language) for its possible compatibility with semantic web-based applications and allows the consultation of statements related to various aspects of daily life during this period.

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