Indian startup develops tech to complete Covid-19 sero survey of 1 cr samples in a week

Indian IT startup Thalamus Irwine claims to have developed an Artificial Intelligence and IoT-based answer to finish a sero survey with 1 crore samples of Covid-19 instances inside every week.

The Delhi-based firm has partnered with state-run ITI to host its information and in addition achieved a proof of idea with the general public sector agency.

“We have developed an Artificial Intelligence (AI) based system to analyse samples tested for Covid-19 within a few microseconds. We connect our AI-Internet of Things (IoT) platform, Garuda, with our partner device that analyses data in real time. Through our technology, we can conduct sero survey with 1 crore actual samples in a week,” Thalamus Irwine chairman Rishabh Sharma advised PTI.

Sero survey or Seroprevalence research are primarily based on evaluation of antibodies collected by means of blood pattern assortment.

Sharma stated that information may be extrapolated over a big inhabitants and perceive the motion of coronavirus throughout the nation.

“The antibodies test shows if a person is infected with the virus or had been infected in the past. It can help in detection of exposure of Covid-19 in asymptomatic people as well. This survey can be used for prioritising vaccine distribution as well,” Sharma stated.

The firm has partnered with Korean biotechnology agency Boditech Med Incorporated for {hardware} that may be deployed for conducting the test utilizing blood samples.

Sharma stated that Thalamus Irwine know-how transformed Boditech’s gadget into an IoT gadget and linked it again to the AI platform for evaluation of information collected inside a couple of microseconds.

“We are also in talks with some other companies to link their device with our Garuda platform,” Sharma stated.

ITI claims Thalamus Irwine to be the world’s quickest Covid-19 sero survey. The information collected by Thalamus Irwine can be hosted on ITI datacentres.

“We are pleased to become Official Data Infrastructure Partner of Garuda because when we combine Garuda’s IoT and AI backend along with our state-of-the-art datacentre facilities, what we have at our hand is one of the world’s fastest Covid-19 sero survey platforms. Also it is the only platform that is AI and IoT enabled which can do large scale sero surveys of 1 crore people in just 1 week’s time with over 12,000 computation nodes,” ITI chairman and managing director R M Agrawal commented on the platform.

Agrawal stated that Garuda has additionally been built-in with Aadhaar already through ITI’s Aadhaar providers.

“We are continuing to find new use cases,” he stated.

Sharma stated that the gadget for test within the discipline may be operated by only a phlebotomist. The test checks IgG and IgM antibodies. The IgM antibodies are the primary antibodies produced by the immune system when a virus assaults a human physique and IgG are positive after the an infection is over.

“To achieve the scale of 1 crore tests, we need to operate 12,000 nodes or devices for 7 hours per day. The technology can separately detect around more health conditions of individuals. This can help the government understand the health map of the country by one-time investment. The test also detects virus load in individuals and helps prepare a database of potential donors for plasma therapy. All data will be safely hosted at ITI datacentres,” he stated.

Sharma stated that the price of the test can be round Rs 1,000 per particular person however real-time information evaluation might help authorities or giant organisations plan their technique across the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The price of devices can be lowered further if we start making them in the country. The cost also depends on a number of factors like server hosting cost. We have set a certain threshold level. If we achieve that threshold level, we can start manufacturing the hardware in India. I already have approvals in place to get the devices made in India,” Sharma stated.