Hong Kong researchers join US tech start-up to remotely monitor Covid-19 patients and quarantine cases in world’s first trial of its kind

Hong Kong is set to become the world’s first testing ground for the deployment of devices and data analytics tools to remotely monitor Covid-19 virus patients and others under quarantine.

Researchers at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and Boston-based health technology start-up Biofourmis are joining forces to start a programme in the coming days to track the health indicators of 50 confirmed patients and 150 people under quarantine orders.

The volunteer participants will wear a device with built-in sensors on their upper arm 24 hours a day, through which data including their body temperatures, respiratory rates, blood oxygen levels and heart rates will be sent to a digital platform for real-time monitoring and analysis.

“Covid-19 patients often do not show symptoms such as fever or coughing for days after being infected and becoming infectious, so traditional surveillance is not ideal, especially for those under quarantine,” said professor David Siu Chung-wah at HKU, a cardiology specialist. The platform for Covid-19 monitoring “would enable earlier diagnoses,” he added.

The effort could grow in significance as the Hong Kong government brings home more than 3,000 of its residents stranded in central Hubei province, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, due to a lock down in its capital Wuhan and neighbouring cities. More than 400 have been evacuated this week and sent to quarantine centres in the city.

Biofourmis aims to engage most of the infected patients and another 500 under quarantine orders by the end of this month, chief executive Kuldeep Rajput said, adding it is in talks to deploy its devices and analytical tools in the US, South Korea and Singapore as the epidemic spreads.