Bengaluru, July 28: Amid the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic in India, a Bangalore based startup has come up with a mobile application for detection and risk assessment of people infected with coronavirus. The mobile app uses the power of smartphone processor and smartphone sensors to capture a bunch of body signals. The Centre for Augmenting WAR with COVID-19 Health Crisis (CAWACH), an initiative by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), has selected Bangalore based startup Acculi Labs to develop a COVID-19 risk assessment profile called 'Lyfas COVID score'.

Acculi Labs's ‘Lyfas’ is a clinical-grade, non-invasive, digital functional biomarker smartphone tool. It will help in screening, early detection, root cause analysis, acute event risk assessment, prognosis, and home monitoring of chronic diseases with the help of Lyfas COVID score. The clinical trials and regulatory proceedings are expected to be completed by the end of September, after which the testing facility will be made available for the general public. Coronavirus Vaccine Latest Update: Human Clinical Trials of India's COVAXIN Underway, Moderna Begins Phase-3 Trials of mRNA-1273.

Here's how the 'Lyfas' App Works:

  1. Lyfas is an Android application in which, when one keeps the index finger on the rear phone camera of a mobile phone for 5 minutes.

  2. It captures the capillary pulse and blood volume change and derive 95 biomarkers with proprietary algorithms and signal processing techniques.

  3. It uses the power of smartphone processor and smartphone sensors to capture a bunch of body signals.

  4. The signals are subsequently processed on the principle of Photoplethysmography (PPG), Photo Chromatography (PCG), Arterial Photoplethysmography (APPG), mobile spirometry, and Pulse Rate Variability (PRV).

  5. Lyfas then provides cardio-respiratory, cardio-vascular, hematology, hemorheology, neurology based parameters that are capable of tracking minute pathophysiological changes in the body. These changes are further profiled into organ system-wide response.

According to a government release, the new technology that has been developed with support from the DST, will detect the possible infection in an asymptomatic individual. This will help in prioritising the conventional testing queue as well as carry out a risk assessment of an asymptomatic individual to become symptomatic and risk assessment of an asymptomatic individual for recovery.

The technology is focused on population screening, monitoring of quarantined individuals, and surveillance at the community spreading phase. The Lyfas mobile app has been proved to detect asymptomatic individuals with an accuracy of 92%, specificity of 90%, and a sensitivity of 92% in a study conducted with Medanta Medicity hospital.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 28, 2020 02:11 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).