Nashik-based IT firm develops technology to screen COVID-19 infection in 5 min

Nashik-based IT firm ESDS on Monday said that it has developed a technology that can indicate coronavirus infection in less than 5 minutes.

About three dozen government hospitals and private hospitals in cities like Mumbai and some states have deployed the technology, the company claimed.

The company also released a report by a radiologist at a hospital in Dewas, Madhya Pradesh, which claimed that the screening solution is working with 96 per cent efficiency.

"We have developed a research-based technology which is the need of the hour as the number of cases are rising every day thereby putting a strain on the COVID 19 testing centres.

"Our technology is currently in use in three dozen government and select private hospitals in cities like Mumbai, and in States like Kerala and Madhya Pradesh," ESDS Software Solution founder and CEO Piyush Somani said in a statement.

He said that the company has deployed the technology under the brand AA+ COVID-19 and is also testing the solution in Ireland and Germany as well.

"This technology helps eliminate the SWAB test in patients who aren't critical and cuts down the time for getting the result. With its speedy and accurate outcome, we are also getting queries from states across India. This shall soon be available across metro cities where the cases are increasing rapidly," Somany said.

The company is facilitating free tests for patients at the moment and it will charge up to Rs 150 per test after a few days.

It is a complete contactless testing procedure, where a health official needs to upload the Chest X-ray report of a patient on a web browser. Post submission, it will quickly indicate whether the patient is suffering from COVID-19 or not, the statement said.

The company shared a pilot test report from a hospital in Dewas in which said that around 7,514 samples have been tested using the ESDS technology out of which 3,482 samples were having pneumonia.

The efficiency of the system was up to 96 per cent and as per the claim made by the ESDS Software Solutions, the report said.

Somany said that the technology is indicative only for people to take caution, medical fraternities to quickly start the action by the time lab reports come and help them start early treatment of the patient.