The coronavirus pandemic has already taken the lives of more than 261,000 people worldwide. Healthcare stakeholders are increasingly turning to technology to curb the spread of the dreaded disease known as COVID-19.
Read more Apple, Google Team Up on COVID-19 Contact Tracing System
Here are some health organizations, governments and digital health vendors, who are using technology to tackle the COVID-19 crisis:
Tracking the spread of the novel coronavirus. Johns Hopkin’s Center for System Science and Engineering launched a new live dashboard to track the novel coronavirus in real-time. The dashboard integrates information about cases by region and country, as well as the deaths, provided by the WHO and CDC. The information is displayed in a map and in corresponding charts, reports MobiHealthNews.
COVID-first virtual care is a new risk assessment, triage and video consult platform designed specifically to handle potential COVID-19 cases. It was launched by Fruit Street Health. A tool called CovidMD is built on the Salesforce Service Cloud and incorporates Conversa Health’s automated communications offering.
Wearables To Monitor Workplace Contact Between Employees. Estimote, a Bluetooth location beacon startup, created a new range of wearable devices that will allow a business owner to monitor their workers remotely and control the COVID-19 outbreak in their workplace.
Robots to curb contamination. In January, CNN reported that the first person diagnosed with the novel coronavirus in the United States was being treated by a few medical workers and a robot. The robot, equipped with a stethoscope, is helping doctors take the man’s vitals and communicate with him through a large screen, said Dr. George Diaz, chief of the infectious disease division at the Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, Washington.
EverlyWell Launched COVID-19 Tests. Austin, Texas-based healthcare startup EverlyWell launched an at-home test kit for COVID-19. The test helps to diagnose whether a person is infected with SARS-CoV-2. The company’s COVID-19 lab partners operate under the Emergency Use Authorization guidelines issued by the FDA. Within 48 hours of the lab receiving your sample, you will receive secure digital results. If your results are positive, a telehealth consult is available to guide you through your next steps.
Germany’s Public Health Authority Launches Smartwatch App. Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the German federal government agency and research institute responsible for disease control and prevention, launched a smartwatch app in partnership with healthtech startup Thryve to help monitor the spread of COVID-19 and analyze whether measures to contain the novel coronavirus pandemic are working, reports Reuters. The app, called Corona Datenspende (Corona Data Donation), would allow people to voluntarily and anonymously share information from their fitness trackers that could reveal signs of a Covid-19 infection.
Read more Advanced Remote Monitoring Partners with Wearable Maker KaHa for Continuous COVID-19 Monitoring
Curbing fake news. Facebook is doing its share to curb the spread of coronavirus. The social media platform pledged to remove false claims and conspiracy theories about COVID-19 posted on its social media platforms. If a piece of information is rated as false, the company pledges to limit its spread on Facebook and Instagram, MobiHealthNews report said.
