New Zealand tests 'early warning' virus iphone app at border
15 April, 2021
New Zealand border workers on Thursday started testing a monitoring app designed to find coronavirus prior to the user develops any noticeable symptoms, in what's thought to be a world first.
The app, "elarm", connects to wearable devices such as for example fitness trackers and smartwatches, using artificial intelligence to check on variables such as heart rate and temperature for tell-tale signs of COVID-19.
The developer, New Zealand based Datamine, claims it could identify the virus with 90 percent accuracy up to three days prior to the appearance of symptoms such as coughing, breathing difficulties and fatigue.
Medical department said it could provide a essential early warning for personnel at the border who face the most threat of exposure to the virus, now virtually only observed in arriving international travelers.
"If the elarm software lives up to its potential, it might provide early notification to your critical border workforce if they’re becoming unwell," deputy health director Shayne Hunter said. "Which means they can take appropriate action such as self-isolating and being tested for COVID-19."
New Zealand has been largely successful in containing the virus, with just 26 deaths in a population of five million.
The few community cases that have occurred have generally been associated with border employees who were exposed to the virus via incoming travelers undergoing quarantine.
Hunter said about 500 border workers would take part in a month-long trial of the app.
The technology uses artificial intelligence to establish a health baseline for each user, then alerts them if there are physiological changes regular with COVID-19.
The federal government said the privacy of the border personnel was guaranteed and only they might get access to their own health data.
Elarm is already available to individuals for a monthly subscription plus some firms such as U.S. mining giant Newcrest have managed to get available to their employees.
However, the brand new Zealand trial is thought to be the 1st time a government has used it at the border, which is widely considered the frontline in containing the virus.
"Although this sort of technology is available to consumers in other countries, the ministry of health isn't alert to any other country who's trialling it in their border workforce," a spokeswoman told AFP.
Source: japantoday.com
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