Kolkata: A kit that can send out Covid detection signal

Kolkata: A team of city-based researchers has come up with a system that could be used as an early-warning device to determine the likelihood of a person contracting a communicable disease.

The system comprises two parts: a smartwatch-like device worn on the wrist that takes the wearer's vital parameters, and an algorithm that analyses and, if necessary, sends out warnings, based on the data collected. It could prove an invaluable tool for healthcare workers, especially those at the frontline of Covid and similar outbreaks. The unnamed system is a joint effort by doctors at Fortis Hospital in the city and TCS Research.

The smartwatch-like device tracks bio-medical signals from the body that indicate the possibility of a Covid attack by analyzing the wearer's respiration rate, body temperature, heart rate, oxygen saturation level and the activity level of the individual, with the data stored on the device that can be monitored every day. It records all the health parameters, which are stored and automatically transmitted through the cloud into an app every 24 hours. This app analyses the data and gives an assessment of the user's health condition, using the algorithm developed by the research team. The system, which runs on AI and machine-learning technology, was presented at the recent Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society in Glasgow. TCS and Fortis have applied for a patent for the algorithm and the complete system could cost around Rs 1 lakh.

A number of doctors who died of Covid might have been saved had the device existed, said Fortis cardiothoracic and vascular surgeon K M Mandana, who played a leading role in its development. "We started experimenting with it soon after the onset of the first wave," Mandana said. "We worked with TCS Innovation Labs, the idea being to regularly screen health workers' conditions, especially those in Covid wards, and get early warnings so that they could be saved from infections." During the study in the first wave, 10 health workers were analysed, of whom three-four received warnings. "They were taken off Covid wards and a couple of them tested positive," he said. The wearable strap itself was brought from the US by TCS researchers, who improvised on it to act as a Covid indicator. "There are four electrodes at the back of the watch, which can record health parameters indicating Covid by touching the skin," added Mandana.