Two Pakistani students Muhammad Aleem and Rahul Raj, have developed an Artificial Intelligence based testing tool for Coronavirus as the country faces a shortage of testing kits to determine the virus. The students studying at Gulam Ishaq Khan Institute (GIKI), believe that with the government’s support and endorsement, they might have a chance at providing an alternative to the conventional Coronavirus testing kits and also help in saving diagnosis time.
“The AI-powered deep learning model that we have developed from scratch can help detect COVID-19 with 92 percent confidence using computed tomography (CT) scan of lungs,” said Muhammad Aleem, a mechanical engineering student while talking to an international media outlet.
He added, “The detector relies on the chest CT imaging. If the CT scans are available then it would hardly take 10-20 seconds to perform the analysis and find out if the patient is COVID-19 positive,” as he requested the government to provide data (lungs imagery) of patients who have tested positive for the disease.
The cost of the test might be a limitation as a normal CT scan costs around Rs5000 to Rs8000 in Pakistan, and the same would be the case here. However, with the government’s support, the students are hopeful that this tool can pave the way for faster diagnosis without risking further spread of the virus.
“The aim is to help doctors diagnose faster so patients can be directed to the next process (such as quarantine or isolation) without spending hours and posing the risk of cross-infection,” said Rahul Raj, a computer science student.
“One it can confirm with 92 percent confidence if the person has tested positive or negative for novel coronavirus. Secondly, based on medical imagery, it can help locate the exact position, impact, and severity of the damage to the lungs,” said the students.
