A Mobile App To Detect COVID-19

A Hyderabad-based startup named Docturnal has developed an app in which one can record the coughing. A special software will, in turn, detect if it is a COVID-19 symptom or not. Their team is working towards making this app public in a month’s time.

Hyderabad: Cough is a major symptom in diagnosing the CoV infection. How to detect if coughing is indeed caused by the novel coronavirus?

A Hyderabad-based startup named Docturnal has the answer for you! The company has developed an app in which one can record the coughing. A special software will in turn detect if it is a COVID-19 symptom or not. Their team is working towards making this app public in a month’s time.

So far, blood and sputum specimens are being collected and analyzed to understand the COVID-19 symptoms. There is no preliminary diagnosis though. The Indian Council for Medical Research has asked the founders of Docturnal to devise an app to detect the coronavirus symptoms. The company has already developed an app with detects tuberculosis (TB) symptoms. Now, the developers have designed a special software that records the coughing, and matches it with the data collected so far.

In 2016, a team of five namely Rahul Patri, Arpita Singh, Vaishnavi Reddy, Balakrishna Bagadi and Sekhar Jha; founded Docturnal to help India fight against Tuberculosis. This startup is operating out of IIIT Gachibowli campus. The team has collected 7,000 cough samples and analyzed the samples with the help of Machine Learning algorithms. Based on the findings, they have developed a specialized software, which has two variants.

The software works both with microphone and smartphone. It analyzes if the user’s cough sample is TB or not.Third party clinical trials of this TB app were conducted in Narayana Hridayalaya, Bengaluru. The app recognizes TB with a 92 percent accuracy. But the TB app is not available to the public yet. Only PHCs, hospitals and TB centers can make use of this app.

The company’s CEO Arpita Singh said that they have conducted 25 screening camps so far.

She explained that the app can detect COPD, asthma, pediatric and respiratory ailments.

She further added that they founded Docturnal with the aim of conducting easy diagnoses for several diseases.