COVID-19: UAE develops equipment for faster mass screenings with test results in seconds.

ISLAMABAD -- QuantLase Imaging Lab, the medical-research arm of the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange-listed International Holdings Company (IHC), Tuesday announced that it had developed an equipment for faster mass screenings with test results available in seconds of coronavirus suspects.

The technology will reinforce the UAE's position as a hub of research and innovation, as scientists around the world scramble to devise a faster method of testing for cornavirus suspected patients.

This break-through will enable 'Mass-scale screening', changing the whole dimension of tracing and the speed with which workforces can be approached, Emirates News Agency reported.

Minister of Health and Prevention Abdul Rahman bin Mohammad bin Nasser Al Owais expressed the hope over the discovery saying, "We are always following innovations related to the early and rapid detection of COVID-19. The government is keen on supporting initiatives that help the healthcare system in the UAE. Health officials have been closely monitoring the progress of trials with QuantLase in order to test this equipment. We are proud to see a technology that works and that will help to protect our people better."

"The equipment, which uses a CMOS detector, will enable mass-scale screening with results made available in seconds," said Dr Pramod Kumar, a leading researcher studying the change in cell structure of the virus-infected blood.

"In fact, our laser-based Diffractive Phase Interferometry (DPI) technique, based on optical-phase modulation, is able to give a signature of infection within a few seconds. What's more, it is user-friendly, non-invasive and low-cost. The device is suitable for use not only in hospitals and public places like cinemas and shopping malls, but with a 'little hands-on training' it can be used for in-house testing and monitoring. We believe it will be a game-changer in tackling the spread of the coronavirus."

Explaining the critical role of artificial intelligence (AI) in the diagnostic system, Dr Kumar said an advanced AI image-analysis model predicted the outcome of each image with precision, speed and scale. This was especially critical in large-scale testing programmes, where a massive...