Meuhedet, Foresight pilot to mass-scan people in Ashdod for COVID-19

The pilot will be carried out by Meuhedet Healthcare Services, and will be used in one of their clinics in Ashdod that serves around 50,000 patients.

JULY 19, 2020 06:34

Meuhedet 311 (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post) — Meuhedet 311

(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)

Ness Ziona-based hi-tech firm Foresight Autonomous Holdings Ltd. announced Friday that it will launch a pilot project for a mass screening solution to detect coronavirus symptoms.

Based on Foresight's thorough understanding of artificial intelligence, advanced algorithms and thermal and visible-light cameras, their solution works by rapidly scanning for any of the main symptoms associated with COVID-19. It also focuses on looking for combinations of several symptoms, which would lower the chance of false positives.

The pilot will be carried out by Meuhedet Healthcare Services, and will be used in one of their clinics in Ashdod that serves around 50,000 patients. The system will be installed at the clinic's entrance and will scan all incoming patients, with the real-time data collected allowing the firm to further refine and develop the technology.

“As the COVID-19 virus continues to spread, it is of great concern to find a solution that will help to detect early symptoms of the coronavirus and offer a solution aimed at preventing another pandemic outbreak,” Foresight CEO Haim Siboni said in a statement. “This first pilot project with a leading Israeli HMO validates the need for Foresight’s new screening solution in high-traffic areas such as health clinics. Based on the large number of Meuhedet clinics throughout Israel, a successful pilot project may lead to further evaluation and future commercial orders.”

Ashdod has been hit hard by the second wave of COVID-19, with 1,122 active cases confirmed at the time of writing, and several neighborhoods in the city have been placed under quarantine.

The solution is one of several automated methods of detecting COVID-19 cases in patients, with many firms looking to develop such technology as diagnostic support becomes more relevant than ever in the face of challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. One firm, AI leader DiA Imaging Analysis, developed an AI-powered ultrasound solution that can detect COVID-19 symptoms in the heart using on the spot objective, accurate and efficient data analyses.