An Internet of Things integrated entry screening system developed by the University of Sydney and Sydney Children's Hospitals Network has been tested early this year at The Children's Hospital at Westmead.

WHAT IT'S ABOUT

Using a personalised QR code, the COVID-19 Smart IoT Screening System provides physical gate access based on a combination of COVID-19 screening questions and temperature checks. The COVID e-Gate "utilises near real-time data analytics to provide the latest available screening information," said Dr Audrey P. Wang, biomedical informatics and digital health researcher at the University of Sydney.

If the system detects that a person's surface body temperature is above a pre-determined threshold, it will alert a concierge staff to conduct further clinical checks on that person, such as COVID-19 testing. 

WHY IT MATTERS

The University of Sydney said the main idea of the e-Gate is to "improve the safety and efficiency of health screening checkpoints at large organisations such as hospitals". Michael Dickinson, director of information, communication and technology at Sydney Children's Hospitals Network, claimed the system could be useful in other large sites such as airports, major sports or entertainment venues. It could also be potentially rolled out to detect other COVID-19 variants or reconfigured for other infectious diseases.

The sensing platform aims to enhance people's self-awareness of COVID-19 risk factors or symptoms and hot spot locations combined with contact tracing information. Aside from self-assessment of symptoms, the system can also be updated to include "new sensors and collect information such as vaccination status," Dickinson said.

THE LARGER TREND

It was recently found in an independent report that Australia's COVID-19 contact tracing app COVIDSafe has not been helpful for government contact tracers as it led to a "cumbersome and inefficient" process to access information. The federal government even admitted in its own review of the app that it had been rarely used due to low COVID-19 cases in the country and the effectiveness of its contact tracing processes.

Meanwhile, in New Zealand, the government has been trying out different technologies to enhance its COVID-19 response, including the use of near field communication tags as part of its COVID-19 track and trace programme. Placed near existing QR code posters, the tags detect an individual's NFC-supported smartphone and automatically record their presence via the government's NZ COVID Tracer app.