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Israel Wields Startup Tech Against Coronavirus

(AFP) Guillaume Lavallee - Israeli entrepreneurs have worked with the government and health professionals on projects to help fight the coronavirus pandemic, says Wendy Singer of Israel's Start-Up Nation Central. Diagnostic Robotics drafted a questionnaire which people who suspect they have coronavirus symptoms can fill in and send on their smartphone. An algorithm then assesses the person's probability of infection and cross-checks this information with that of others, said the company's head, Kira Radinsk. "When the system identifies an increasing number of symptomatic cases, an alert is sent to the deputy director of the Ministry of Health who generally immediately approves a series of tests for the given location." Shortly after the outbreak of the coronavirus, Anyvision installed thermal cameras at Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv to let officials spot hospital staff with a fever. Its facial recognition software shows "in seconds" anyone who came into contact with an infected staffer. To ease the load on hospitals, the Israeli government signed a deal with Datos for remote medical care for coronavirus patients with light or no symptoms. Patients download an app and then measure their vital signs and input the results. "At the start of the crisis, health services had to call patients twice a day regardless of their condition," which was a drain on resources, said Datos founder Uri Bettesh. With his app there is only a need to make contact if the patient's data shows it to be necessary, freeing up staff to focus on severe cases.
2020-07-02 00:00:00
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