Beijing links health codes to transit cards

A new ticketing system in China's capital Beijing has linked commuters' COVID-19 health codes to their transit cards as part of the city's COVID-19 surveillance.

As infections have started to go on a downtrend, Beijing is now permitting travellers with a negative 48-hour nucleic acid test to use mass transportation. 

The city's latest protocol, according to a news report, automatically reads a passenger's health code via their transit card when swiped in during entry. 

This protocol will be implemented in approximately 321 stations on 25 subway lines and 536 bus routes around Beijing by next week.

About 10.3 million transit cards and codes have been upgraded for access to the new service as of end-May.

Honeywell to power real-time health monitoring at Narayana Health

Indian hospital chain Narayana Health has signed a memorandum of understanding with American manufacturing firm Honeywell for its continued digital transformation.

While the companies are still hashing out specific details of their partnership, a press statement noted that Honeywell will deliver its sensor-based applications to support Narayana Health's real-time health monitoring and hospital safety system.

Honeywell manufactures sensor-based devices and software for hospitals, clinics, and elderly care facilities.

"Honeywell's sensor-based applications will complement our efforts in real-time patient monitoring and fire safety, raising the bar for others to meet," said Narayana Health CEO and Managing Director Dr Emmanuel Rupert.

The partnership also entails "co-innovation and introduction of new products, establishing technology development centres, co-creation of joint capabilities in technology development and research, and the development of a fire safety codec".

Honeywell said it is also committed to "help enhance and optimise Narayana Health's digital processes and offer training to its employees".

"Narayana Health is delighted to work with Honeywell to develop digital technologies for making health care safer, more accessible, and more affordable," Dr Devi Prasad Shetty, chairman and executive director of Narayana Health, commented.

"The pandemic made it abundantly clear that healthcare organisations need technology that can be seamlessly integrated into existing systems and processes to streamline error-prone tasks, enhance patient experience, and improve organisational agility," said Robert Robinson, VP and general manager of Honeywell's Advanced Sensing Technologies Healthcare business.

AIG Hospitals, University of Hyderabad to partner for medical research

AIG Hospitals, a unit of the Asian Institute of Gastroenterology, and the University of Hyderabad in the Indian state of Telangana, have signed a memorandum of understanding to hasten their medical research collaboration and clinical innovation.

A news report noted that their partnership will focus on research for developing indigenous therapeutics and diagnostic tools, as well as fostering innovation to enhance patient care. They plan to collaborate on research projects, including translational research, evolutionary genetics, and microbiome. 

Both partners, according to Dr Duvvuru Nageswar Reddy, chairman of AIG Hospitals, want to have a better understanding of diseases and are looking for population-based cures. "We need to establish our population-specific treatment modalities given how different we are in terms of genetic makeup from the west," he explained.

The partnership also looks to create a specialised doctoral programme for medical students. 

2 Uttar Pradesh cities launch mobile app to track dengue, malaria cases

The health departments in Noida and Ghaziabad, cities in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India, have adopted a mobile app for tracking dengue and malaria cases.

According to a news report, the CS Pro mobile app connects the district malaria officer and supervisors, enabling them to better manage dengue and malaria cases. 

Aside from this, the health departments have also formed rapid response teams who will execute anti-larva fogging in areas where there are cases of suspected dengue or malaria fever. 

Community health workers have also been tapped to conduct random health checks for mosquito-borne diseases by using rapid test kits.