In a much-needed technological breakthrough to contain the spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus), the Chinese tech giant Alibaba has reportedly developed an AI system to detect coronavirus patients, reports Nikkei’s Asian Review. 

Alibaba’s technology is able to determine a diagnose in under 20 seconds, based on the evaluation of over 300 CT scans of a patient’s chest. As per the report, the technology has a 96% accuracy rate in detecting viral pneumonia cases, a sign of the case being severe. 

Alibaba’s AI system has been trained for diagnosis after a study of data and images from 5,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus. Over 100 healthcare facilities across China are already using AI. The short turn-around time reduces the detection time and increases accuracy in diagnosis, resulting in timely quarantining and treatment of coronavirus patients. The technological breakthrough brings a much-needed respite to the country as the deadly virus has affected almost 79,000 people and claimed over 2,700 lives in the country since December 2019. 

A similar system has also been developed by Ping An, a Chinese healthcare giant. The system, similar to Alibaba’s invention, also uses smart image-reading to make a diagnosis. The company’s co-president, Geoff Kau, released a statement stating, “Since its launch, the smart image-reading system has provided services to more than 1,500 medical institutions. More than 5,000 patients have received smart image-reading services for free. The system can generate smart analysis results in around 15 seconds, with an accuracy rate above 90%.” The Pin An system can also be accessed by medical institutes via public or private cloud platforms or on-premises.

The emergence of new technologies to help combat coronavirus is welcoming news globally, as countries have been struggling to diagnose and contain the spread of this newly discovered deadly disease in a timely manner. Since it’s identification in December 2019, the epidemic has spread across 76 countries, claiming more than 3,000 lives.