A team of experts from the University of Queensland, the University of Melbourne and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States have jointly developed a Bluetooth-transmitted virtual virus called Safe Blues, which could potentially be used to more accurately assess the spread of coronavirus infection (COVID-19) and make a quick diagnosis.
The spread of the virus is a complex function of biological properties, the environment, preventive measures such as sanitation and masks, and the speed at which people are physically close, the researchers say. Governments can control the last two elements through social distancing directives.
“However, infection measurements are almost always delayed, making real-time estimation nearly impossible. Safe Blues is one way of addressing the problem caused by this time lag via online measurements combined with machine learning methods that exploit the relationship between counts of multiple forms of the Safe Blues strands and the progress of the actual epidemic”, — scientists say.
The Safe Blues solution uses Bluetooth technology to transfer virtual “virus-like” chains between mobile devices, simulating the spread of COVID-19 infection in the community in real time.
Then, using artificial intelligence, Safe Blues’ virtual infections are compared with the latest real-life COVID-19 data.
“Safe Blues distributes secure virtual ‘virus-like’ tokens that respond to social distancing directives just like the virus itself. Tokens are distributed via Bluetooth and measured online”, – the experts explained.
According to the researchers, the relationship between the number of token infection chains and the development of a real epidemic can be determined using machine learning methods used to delay measurement of the actual epidemic. This allows using real-time data on Safe Blues tokens to assess the current outbreak.
The researchers noted that while Safe Blues is similar to contact tracing apps for COVID-19 patients, its purpose is “completely different” as the solution “does not record or store information about people and their interactions in order to display specific contacts.”
After initial research with simulation experiments, scientists are preparing for a university-wide experiment on the use of Safe Blues.
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