Facebook claims to have designed software capable of predicting if a coronavirus patient's health will deteriorate or will need oxygen just by scanning their chest X-rays. Working with New York University (NYU), the social media firm says the system can calculate such developments four days. Together they have built three machine-learning models to assist doctors better prepare as cases around the world continue to rise. One model is designed to predict deterioration using a single chest X-ray, another does the same but through a series of X-rays and the third uses an X-ray to determine if and how much supplemental oxygen a patient may need. Facebook and NYU built three machine-learning models to assist doctors better prepare as cases around the world continue to rise.

A drug that's been used for more than a decade to treat cancer could cure people with Covid-19, according to a new study. The drug, called pralatrexate, is a chemotherapy medication that was originally developed to treat lymphomas – tumours that originate in the glands. Chinese researchers found pralatrexate outperforms remdesivir, which is currently the leading anti-viral medication used to treat Covid-19 patients. Pralatrexate was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2009 for patients with terminal disease in spite of its toxicity. Adverse effects of pralatrexate include fatigue, nausea and mucositis – inflammation and ulceration of the mucous membranes lining the digestive tract.

Death rate among COVID-19 patients admitted to intensive care units (ICU) across the world has reduced compared to the toll at the beginning of the pandemic, according to a new study. The result of the study offered a beacon of hope to the coronavirus patients in the ICUs by finding the fatality rate among those in intensive care has fallen by almost a third in Europe, America and Asia. While new cases continued to surge in some parts of the world, coronavirus-related fatalities were also showing signs of waning, according to a research team headed by Tim Cook, a consultant in anesthesia and intensive care medicine of England's Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust. Researchers said, overall, ICU deaths dropped from almost 60% in March to around 42% at the end of May. The difference in ratio meant thousands of lives were saved and reflected the rapid learning process that took place on a global scale as to what types of drugs work against the deadly virus, an article published on WebMD, stated.

A robot that is able to take throat swabs from coronavirus patients using a 3D printed arm was developed by a team of researchers from Denmark in just four weeks. The University of Southern Denmark says the world's first fully automated throat swab robot will be be able to test the first COVID-19 patients by late June. Using disposable 3D printed parts, the robot holds a swab and hits the exact spot in the throat where a sample needs to be collected every time. It puts the swab in a glass and screws the lid on to seal the sample without human input - reducing the risk of exposing healthcare workers to the deadly virus. A team of ten researchers for the Industry 4.0 Lab at the University of Southern Denmark worked around the clock to produce the prototype of the robot.

Uber will require its drivers to wear face masks as journeys start out of coronavirus lockdowns – and will use new technology to confirm that they are complying. "Our new technology will verify if the driver is wearing a mask by asking them to take a selfie. After we verify the driver is covering their face, we'll let the rider know via an in-app message" the company said in a blog post. Unlike it's other facial recognition software the "Real-Time ID Check", which the company says "protects riders from unverified drivers, and also prevents fraud by ensuring drivers' accounts are not compromised", this technology only identifies the mask rather than the driver's face or other biometric information. Drivers in the United States, Canada, India and most of Europe and Latin America, will be affected by the change, which will start 18 May.

Dr. Amy Compton-Phillips is the chief clinical officer and executive vice president for Providence St. Get all the latest news on coronavirus and more delivered daily to your inbox. Tokyo will use robots to attend to coronavirus patients housed in local hotels. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government unveiled two robots on Friday at the Apa Hotel & Resort in the capital's Sumida ward. The Apa Hotel is one of five hotels in Tokyo that the metropolitan government is renting to house hospital patients with no or mild symptoms of COVID-19. Doctors and nurses attend the guests at the hotel, but the government hopes that the Softbank-developed robots will help to cheer up the otherwise isolated guests.

An artificial intelligence programme could be used to more quickly predict the outcome of coronavirus patients by studying X-rays of their chest. Developers at the Oxford-based data-visualisation company, Zegami, have created a machine learning model that can diagnose the virus from the images. However, the team say that in order to get better and more detailed results their AI needs to be trained on a wider range of X-ray images from infected patients. The team believe it could have an artificial intelligence system in place within a matter of weeks to study the disease if it gets enough X-ray images. Zegami CEO, Roger Noble, has written an open letter to the Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust asking for more images to train the AI model.

Experts at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, have begun using artificial intelligence to create computer models that calculate the risk of a corona patient's needing intensive care or a ventilator. As coronavirus patients are hospitalized, it is difficult for doctors to predict which of them will require intensive care and a respirator. Many different factors come into play, some yet to be fully understood by doctors . As such, computer scientists at the University of Copenhagen are now developing computer models based on artificial intelligence that calculate the risk of an individual patient's need for a ventilator or intensive care. The new initiative is being conducted in a collaboration with Rigshospitalet and Bispebjerg Hospital.

Washington – Researchers in the U.S. and China reported Monday they have developed an artificial intelligence tool that is able to accurately predict which newly infected patients with the novel coronavirus go on to develop severe lung disease. Once deployed, the algorithm could assist doctors in making choices about where to prioritize care in resource-stretched health care systems, said Megan Coffee, a physician and professor at New York University's Grossman School of Medicine who co-authored a paper on the finding in the journal Computers, Materials & Continua. The tool discovered several surprising indicators that were most strongly predictive of who went on to develop so-called acute respiratory disease syndrome (ARDS), a severe complication of the COVID-19 illness that fills the lungs with fluid and kills around 50 percent of coronavirus patients who get it. The team applied a machine learning algorithm to data from 53 coronavirus patients across two hospitals in Wenzhou, China, finding that changes in three features – levels of the liver enzyme alanine aminotransferase (ALT), reported body aches, and hemoglobin levels – were most accurately predictive of subsequent, severe disease. Using this information along with other factors, the tool was able to predict risk of ARDS with up to 80 percent accuracy.

That said, technologies--such as big data, cloud computing, supercomputers, artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, 3D printing, thermal imaging and 5G--are being used to effectively complement the traditional methods of increased hygiene, self- and forced quarantines, and enforced global travel bans. Having enforced traditional measures in place, for instance, police officers in China now wear AI-powered helmets that can automatically record the temperatures of pedestrians. The high-tech headgear has an infrared camera, and sounds an alarm if anyone in a radius of 16ft has fever. Equipped with the facial-recognition technology, it can also display the pedestrian's personal information, such as their name on a virtual screen. Officials at railway stations, airports and in other public areas in India, too, are using smart thermal scanners to record temperatures from a distance, thus helping in identifying potential coronavirus carriers.