In response to the current pandemic, an unexpected result of the partnership between Norway India Partnership Initiative (NIPI) and Wadhwani Institute, a nonprofit organization has been the development of a triaging tool for detecting COVID-19 suspect cases in Indian states. Cough is one of the predominant presenting symptoms in case of COVID-19, with almost 70% confirmed patients experiencing it. As a response measure, suspected cases presenting for COVID-19 testing at designated sites will be enrolled after an informed consent.

After acquiring the basic demographic information and clinical history the patient will be asked to provide short “solicited cough” sound samples, which will be recorded using a smartphone based application by the data collector. The result of the COVID-19 test will be used as labels to cough sounds. These parameters will be used to develop an artificial intelligence-based tool to triage symptomatic patients for testing for COVID-19. New innovative approaches are crucial in pandemics like COVID-19 where supply of test kits and the number of testing facilities is sometimes lacking, yet large populations must be diagnosed to avoid spreading of the disease.

For more refer to The Norway Resource - Norwegian Embassy Newsletter