IIT, Bombay develops novel method using infra-red technology to predict patients more likely to be severely ill from COVID
Aug 13, 2021 |
, |
9:08PM |
IIT, Bombay develops novel method using infra-red technology to predict patients more likely to be severely ill from COVID

According to an official statement, the pilot study conducted in collaboration with Mumbai’s Kasturba Hospital, Australia’s QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute and Agilent Technologies was found to be 85 percent accurate.
Head of Microbiology department from Kasturba Hospital, Dr. Jayanthi Shastri has said that this kind of blood-based test will be beneficial for the clinicians in determining severity of COVID-19 patients in India.
Stating that the pilot was conducted on 128 COVID-19 patients in Mumbai, Associate Professor Michelle Hill said that there were measurable differences in the infra-red spectra in the patients who became severely unwell; adding that diabetes was found to be a predictor in many patients. While a larger study is required to fine tune the method, the group hopes that this quick and cost effective test will help in triaging patients, especially at hospitals facing high volumes of COVID-19 patients.
The study was primarily funded by India’s Science and Engineering Research Board, the Government of India.