IIT Roorkee Professor Develops Software Which Can Detect Covid-19 Within 5 Seconds Using X-Ray Scan

In a major breakthrough, an IIT-Roorkee professor has claimed to develop a novel software which can detect COVID-19 within five seconds using X-ray scan of the suspected patient, reports the Economic Times.

Professor Kamal Jain, from institute’s civil engineering department, reportedly took over 40 days to develop the software. He claims that the software will reduce testing cost and will also reduce the exposure risk to healthcare workers.

He has applied for a patent for his software and has also approached the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for a review.

However, there is no verification of his claim by a medical institution thus far.

Jain was quoted as saying, “I first developed an artificial intelligence-based database after analysing over 60,000 X-ray scans, including those of COVID-19, pneumonia and tuberculosis patients to differentiate between the kind of chest congestion suffered in the three diseases. I also analysed the chest x-ray database of the United States’ NIH Clinical Center,”

He added, “Using the software developed by me, the doctors can simply upload pictures of an individual’s X-ray. The software will not only classify whether the patient has any sign of pneumonia, it will be able to tell whether it is due to COVID-19 or other bacteria and also measure severity of the infection. The results can be processed within five seconds.”

According to Jain the software can help in accurate preliminary screening, post which the positive persons can further undergo clinical testing.

“The pneumonia caused by COVID-19 is severe than other bacteria as it affects lungs completely than smaller portions of lungs in other cases. The software will analyse bilateral opacity, pattern of fluid build-up in lungs and nature of clump or clot if any,” the professor said.