Many associate Alibaba with Taobao and their huge 11.11 sales. However, Alibaba is also a technology giant, and it’s one that is using its expertise for good.
In a development that is sure to be welcomed by the world during these worrying, virus-threatened times, the multinational has developed an accurate and efficient system that can detect Covid-19 infections in CT scans, reported the Nikkei Asian Review.
Image for illustration purposes only
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The new system, created by Alibaba’s research institute Damo Academy, uses artificial intelligence to compare CT scans of Covid-19-infected patients with those of patients afflicted with ordinary viral pneumonia, and find the differences.
After testing out the system on data from more than 5,000 confirmed cases, researchers say it is 96% accurate.
The system also includes updated information — the latest treatment guidelines and recently published research.
While the system seems to be accurate indeed, it won’t be useful if it takes a long time.
Well, Alibaba’s impressive system doesn’t have that problem. It will come up with test results in just 20 seconds — that’s shorter than the time it takes to cook a packet of Maggi mee.
The shorter timeframe will relieve some of the pressure on hospitals. Currently, doctors are said to need up to 15 minutes to analyse a CT scan and give a diagnosis.
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Since some scans may include more than 300 images, this speedy system allows doctors to spend more time attending to patients.
On 5 Feb, the China National Health Commission added CT scan results to the list of criteria required for the diagnosis of new Covid-19 cases, a list that includes nucleic acid tests.
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The lucky first recipient of Alibaba’s new diagnostic tool is the new Qiboshan Hospital in Zhengzhou, Henan province. The hospital then started treating Covid-19 patients on Feb 16.
The system will be soon used in more than 100 of China’s hospitals in 3 provinces.
As the pace of infections slows down in China, we hopefully it’ll help the medical workers to detect cases faster and help patients on the road to recovery.
And perhaps, just perhaps, we’ll be able to see such a system in our own hospitals soon.
In the meantime, maybe we can continue to “fund” Alibaba’s work through our online shopping efforts.
Featured image adapted from Caixin Global, and is for illustration purposes only.
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