New Zealand testing to detect Covid-19 before symptoms appear

New Zealand border officers begin the A اختبار test Request of a new kind. The app called “elarm” connects to smart watches or mobile devices that measure sports performance and uses artificial intelligence to check variables such as heart rate and temperature to detect warning signs of Covid-19. The developer of this app, Datamine, based in New Zealand, says it can detect the virus with up to 90% accuracy up to three days before symptoms such as coughing, difficulty breathing and fatigue appear.

The Health Ministry said the system will allow early warning of border workers who are most vulnerable to the coronavirus. In fact, the archipelago currently records almost no local cases, and the only people who have tested positive for Covid-19 have been travelers from abroad. “If the elarm app is what we expect, it can provide a quick warning to our employees,” said Shane Hunter, deputy director at the Department of Health.

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“This means that they can take appropriate measures, such as going into self-isolation and being tested for Covid-19,” she added. New Zealand It has largely succeeded in containing the coronavirus pandemic, with just 26 Covid-19-related deaths for a population of five million. The rare local cases generally involve people who work at the border and have worked with travelers who have been quarantined upon their return from abroad.

According to Hunter, about 500 workers across the border will participate in the one-month trial of this application. This technology uses artificial intelligence to create a reference point for each user in terms of their health status and alert them in case of physiological changes consistent with Covid-19. Elarm is already available to individuals for a monthly subscription, and some companies, such as US mining giant Newcrest, have made it available to their employees.

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However, the trial began in New Zealand It appears to be the first led by a department for people working at the border. “Although this type of technology is available to consumers in other countries, the Ministry of Health is not aware of any other country that is experimenting with it with its own border personnel,” a spokeswoman told AFP.