The National Institute of Electronics has developed an artificial intelligence-based software that would detect the coronavirus in the lungs in 60 seconds.
The AI software was developed by the institute to upgrade the testing process, as currently, it takes several hours for the PCR tests to detect the virus in a patient. The new virus detecting system named ‘Cov-Raid AI Detection’ has already been approved by the Drug Regulatory Authority Pakistan (DRAP).
DRAP said that the Cov-Raid “shall employ Convolutional Neural Networks to predict [presence of] Covid-19 in suspected individuals” by using X-rays and it has been approved for “secondary detection” of the virus, reported Dawn.
According to the creators of the software, ‘Cov-Raid’ has been developed by “creating a data repository of Chest X Rays (CXR) for Covid-19 or non-Covid-19 detection”.
“The Cov-Raid requires a chest X-Ray image as an input for the detection of Covid-19 positive or negative patients in less than one minute,” the description on the website said.
“The algorithm has been trained on more than 35,000 CXRs (data authentication done through multiple certified radiologists and PCR reports),” the website said, adding that the test can be used to test a large number of patients in a limited time.
Meanwhile, DRAP Chief Executive Officer Dr Asim Rauf has reportedly said that the new software is registered under the DRAP Act of 2012.
