Update: Latest study has shown that there is no authentic way of identifying coronavirus without taking a blood sample as a big percentage of virus carriers do not show any symptoms at all, rendering this method as ineffective.
Two Pakistani students have developed a device that can diagnose coronavirus through AI within 20 seconds.
Mohammad Aleem and Rahul Raj, students at Gulam Ishaq Khan Institute (GIKI), are the masterminds behind this invention.
The students say that the shortage of testing kits and long waiting time after the test motivated them to turn to technology amid growing coronavirus cases across the world.
A timely diagnosis would allow doctors to initiate the isolation and treatment process of a COVID-19 patient instantly, reducing the risk of cross-infection to a great extent.
The AI-powered device developed by GIKI students uses computed tomography (CT) scan of lungs to detect COVID-19.
The device can perform analysis on CT scans and tell whether a patient has been infected with coronavirus in just 20 seconds with 92% accuracy.
Besides speed and accuracy, the device can also identify the exact location, impact, and severity of the damage inflicted on the lungs due to coronavirus.
The AI-powered device depends on CT scans in order to diagnose the disease. A CT scan costs somewhere between Rs. 5,000 to 10,000 in Pakistan. The cost of a CT scan is the biggest impediment to the mass production of the AI-powered device.
Moreover, the more data the AI-based machine processes, the more accurate it will become with time.
The students have requested the government to provide them adequate resources so they can move towards the mass-production of the device.