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By APD writer Alice
A number of technology companies in Japan have begun using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to provide information about the acute respiratory disease caused by a new strain of coronavirus (COVID-19) for residents.
Line Corporation, which manages the LINE messaging app, has just set up an official account of the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare of Japan (MHLW) on this app. MHLW's account will use artificial intelligence to answer people's questions regarding information about novel coronavirus infections as well as preventive measures. Besides, LINE users can also get advice from doctors on issues related to the COVID-19 epidemic.
Meanwhile, LEBER, a company that provides smartphone apps allowing users to receive online medical advice from doctors, began offering free advice on COVID-19. LEBER's app allows users to talk to automatic artificial intelligence services. Users can get doctors’ advice only minutes after entering the symptoms.
Earlier, on February 16, MHLW Minister Katsunobu Kato warned that Japan was in the early stages of the COVID-19 epidemic. According to him, at the meeting of the Government consultant group on COVID-19, the members stated that there were COVID-19 infection cases that doctors could not determine how they got the virus. Therefore, health experts recommend that right now, the government should take measures to prepare for an increase in the number of patients.
Japan's health ministry on February 17 issued guidance for people with symptoms consistent with the new coronavirus as the country steps up efforts to contain its spread with more cases, even among medical staff, confirmed.
In the document, the ministry encourages people who have had a temperature of 37.5 C or higher for four days, are feeling lethargic or are experiencing shortness of breath to contact by phone nationwide health-care centers in charge of responding to the outbreak.
The centers will then recommend medical institutions they should visit. The period is shorter at two days for the elderly and those with underlying conditions such as diabetes, as they are viewed as more vulnerable to the pneumonia-causing virus, the ministry said.
The guidance is intended to give those worried about infecting the virus an idea of when and where to go to visit a doctor while a government panel of experts has said the country is at an early stage of infection.
As of February 17, Japan confirmed 520 cases of COVID-19 infection, including 454 people on the Diamond Princess yacht that is being anchored off the coast of Yokohama. The disease killed a woman in her 80s living in Kanagawa prefecture. It is worrisome that there are many newly discovered cases who have never had contacts with those coming from epidemic areas in China and some cases without any symptoms.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
