MUST develops rapid test for Covid-19

A research team led by Zhang Kang, a professor at the Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST), has developed a smart system for faster diagnosis of the novel coronavirus.

The system is called the Artificial Intelligence System for Screening, Diagnosis and Prediction of Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia and was developed by Professor Zhang’s collaborative team.

It is an artificial intelligence-assisted diagnostic system working through a chest CT and X-Ray. It can quickly screen a large number of “suspected” pneumonia patients, assist diagnosis and in-hospital clinical assessments, and complete the full cycle management of Covid-19 patients, according to a statement from MUST.

The system can quickly and accurately diagnose Covid-19. Currently, an experienced radiologist spends 15 to 20 minutes reading a chest scan in order to ascertain the status of the patient, whereas the MUST system can complete a test and a diagnosis in 20 seconds with an accuracy rate of 90%.

The system, which issues an alert for severe disease conditions, is appropriate for helping medical professionals carry out evaluations on the effectiveness of certain medicines used to treat the symptoms of the coronavirus.

At present, the system is housed on a cloud service by the National Bioinformatics Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and available to use by anyone in China, but soon its availability will be international.

On March 10, this system was implemented in the Wuhan Jinyintan hospital for frontline deployment, at the same time being deployed and tested in the Sun Yat-Sen University Memorial Hospital, the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Remin Hospital of Wuhan University, the Central People’s Hospital in Yichang of Hubei province, the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University and the First People’s Hospital in Kashgar, Xinjiang and other medical institutions, according to MUST. The next phase
will roll out the application nationwide and worldwide.