Your wearable tech could be used as a Covid-19 virus early warning system. A new app could diagnose you before you have any symptoms

Smartwatches and other wearables take 250,000 measurements a day, giving them the potential to detect virus symptoms

Scientists have developed an app that could detect the virus three days before symptoms are felt

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Wearable tech such as the Oura Ring monitors body temperature, breathing, heart rate and other vital signs. Photo: West Virginia University

Published: 7:00pm, 9 Jun 2020Updated: 7:21pm, 9 Jun 2020

Can your Fitbit or Apple Watch detect a coronavirus infection before the onset of symptoms?

Researchers are looking at these devices and other such wearables as a possible early warning system for the deadly virus.

Last month, scientists at the West Virginia University Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute said they had created a digital platform that can detect Covid-19 symptoms up to three days before they show up using the Oura ring, a wearable fitness and activity tracker.

An app developed by the researchers uses artificial intelligence to forecast the onset of Covid-19 related symptoms such as fever, coughing, breathing difficulties and fatigue, with over 90 per cent accuracy, according to the university. The researchers said the system could offer clues of infection in people not yet showing symptoms – helping address one of the problems in detection and containment of the deadly outbreak.

Separately, Scripps Research has enrolled more than 30,000 people – and aims for much more – in a similar study aiming to use wearables to find “presymptomatic” and asymptomatic people with Covid-19.

Wearable tech could detect early onset of the coronavirus.