Lyfas- Indian Startup develops 5 min Covid detecting mobile APP
Lyfas is an Android application in which, when one keeps the index finger on the rear camera of a mobile phone for 5 minutes, captures the capillary pulse and blood volume change and derives 95 biomarkers
The world is now petrified because of the havoc caused by the coronavirus pandemic, organizations around the world are doing their part to combat the spread of the virus, in a similar move a government-backed, IT company in Bengaluru has developed a mobile application which can access the overall health of an individual and bring out the probability to the extent a person can be infected with the virus. The application is the need of the hour and can significantly play a major role to keep a check on the virus spread and also in the early detection of the infection and the risk associated with it, as per the ministry of science and technology.
The newly developed innovation marks its dependency on clinical screening and can possibly recognize any probable chance of infection in an asymptomatic individual thereby helping to give importance to the traditional method of testing, and also examine the risk factors associated with an asymptomatic carrier, besides this, it also helps to judge whether an individual having asymptomatic behavior can develop the signs of infection, other than assessing the risk associated with an asymptomatic individual for a speedy recovery.
The Bangalore based startup Acculi Labs takes the credit of developing the app. The app works by creating an individual COVID risk assessment profile named Lyfas COVID score. AarogyaSetu which was introduced by the Government of India to assess the probable Covid 19 patients works on the technique of contact tracing on the basis of individual data inputs. Lyfas on the other hand works on the principle of “proper medical screening test” and it purely depends upon the test results.
Lyfas Covid score comes after repurposing Lyfas which is a clinical-grade, non-invasive, digital functional biomarker smartphone tool for screening, early detection, root cause analysis, acute event risk assessment, prognosis, and home monitoring of chronic diseases.
“Lyfas is an Android application in which, when one keeps the index finger on the rear camera of a mobile phone for 5 minutes, captures the capillary pulse and blood volume change and derives 95 biomarkers with proprietary algorithms and signal processing techniques. It uses the power of smartphone processors and smartphone sensors to capture a bunch of body signals,” says the statement from the science and technology department of the government of India.
Signals captured gets processed on the principle of Photoplethysmography(PPG), Photo Chromatography(PCG), Arterial Photoplethysmography(APPG), mobile spirometry, and Pulse Rate Variability(PRV).
“Lyfas then provides cardio-respiratory, cardio-vascular, hematology, hemorheology, neurology based parameters that are capable of tracking minute pathophysiological changes in the body. These changes are further profiled into organ system-wide response,” the statement adds.
The technology works towards the detection of asymptomatic individuals and guarantees an accuracy rate of 92%, a specificity of 90%, and a sensitivity of 92%, as per a study conducted by Medanta Medicity hospital. The app is very easy to use and can be successfully used to cover a large set of populations. Also it can be brought to use in order to monitor individuals under the quarantine and keep a check on community spread.
“Witnessing the success of the study, the Medanta ethics committee has approved it for a larger population study. This study is currently registered in Clinical Trials Registry- India (CTRI) and is acknowledged by the World Health Organisation (WHO),” the statement adds
The application called Lyfas has been developed by Acculi Labs which is in association with the Union government’s CAWACH (Centre for Augmenting WAR with Covid-19 Health Crisis) initiative.
CAWACH is working towards the development of a market-ready innovation that has the potential to control Covid-19 cases and also innovative solutions for startup and counterattack any associated challenges. The company, Acculi Labs was picked after several rounds of screening in search of a solution for the problem of mass screening. A grant of Rs 30 Lakh was received by Lyfas from DST, and also it is receiving virtual support from IIT Madras, Healthcare Technology Innovation Centre (HTIC), MedTech Incubator.
“Inexpensive, accessible, point-of-care smartphone-based diagnostics is a powerful tool that would tremendously help in screening the high-risk cases, sustained monitoring of quarantined cases, and general surveillance. Lyfas is an interesting example of the rising power of technology startups in innovating relevant and creative solutions for the emergent challenges with speed and efficacy,” said Prof Ashutosh Sharma, secretary, department of science and technology. All related clinical trials and regulatory proceedings for the Lyfas Coved Score will be over by the end of September as per the company’s expectations after which the facility be open for the general public.
