BMC to analyze study pertaining to AI-based COVID test

MUMBAI: A senior official of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said on Monday, August 10, that the Mumbai civic body has decided to carry out a study in order to determine the efficacy of an artificial intelligence (AI)-based technology that claims to detect COVID-19 infection within half a minute. The non-invasive voice sample analysis claims the identification of viral infection by examining patients’ sound waves. Suresh Kakani, Additional Commissioner, BMC, said that this technology is in its initial phase and its findings need to cross-checked. He added that the technology’s biggest advantage is that it is a non-invasive test with no side effects.

Another official said that in comparison to existing COVID-19 tests, the non-invasive voice sample analysis test is cheaper and gives result within 30 seconds. Kakani said that the study is to be focused on 2,000 hospitalized patients at a COVID-19 facility in suburban Goregaon. Officials anticipate that the technology can be used to identify asymptomatic people in crowded places such as the airports, hospitals, malls, theatres, bus stands and railway stations, if it proves to be effective. Another official added that this AI-based technology has been developed by an Israel-based company and the testing could be done using smartphones, tablets or computers.

Dr Neelam Andrade, Dean, civic-run Nair Hospital, said that patients taking an AI test will be asked to count numbers between 50 and 70 and using voice biomarkers, COVID-19 infection will be identified. She further explained that when a patient experiences COVID-19 symptoms, he/she faces breathing issues that impact air intake, thereby interacting with inflamed muscles on its journey to produce voices or speech. A reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) swab test will be performed on patients testing positive to confirm the COVID-19 diagnosis.

Currently, the BMC is conducting rapid antigen and RT-PCR tests to identify COVID-19 infections. Some hospitals and laboratories are also using rapid-antibody tests, which range between Rs 500 and Rs 2500.