BAGUIO CITY — An artificial intelligence-powered CT scan analyzer is being set up at the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center to help detect possible transmissions of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), Mayor Benjamin Magalong announced on Monday.
EMPTY NEST. Downtown Baguio has been devoid of people most hours of the day since Luzon was placed under a 24-Hour lockdown. Vincent Cabreza
In a statement, Magalong said the city government, BGHMC physicians and technicians of Chinese technology company Huawei have been busy assembling the diagnostic system over the weekend “to help our doctors identify highly suspicious COVID19 cases.”
“Unlike the current screening test kits which would take 4 to 5 days, the AI system only takes 2 minutes. Hopefully it will be up and running by Monday or Tuesday. Test runs are ongoing,” Magalong said.
Last week, Magalong revealed that there was a “high probability” that 4 or 5 individuals under investigation for exhibiting flu-like symptoms or for having travelled to COVID-infected areas are actually carriers.
City engineers are also installing “sanitation tents” at hospitals and at least two hotels which offered to isolate infected patients or accomodate healthcare workers and other frontline service workers so they would not need to travel far during shift breaks.