First-year students and lecturers at the University of Technology VNUHCM have developed an IoT-integrated automatic body temperature measurement and hand-washing machine for COVID-19 prevention and control. — Photo courtesy of the university

HCM CITY — Universities, health institutions and IT companies have been developing a number of technologies and devices to help combat COVID-19.

A team of first-year students and lecturers at the University of Technology VNUHCM in HCM City has, for instance, developed an IoT-integrated automatic body temperature measurement and hand washing device.

Dr Võ Thanh Hằng, head of the Bách Khoa Green Innovation Club at the university, said: “Thermal scanners at airports are very expensive for the university to use. Manual body temperature measuring devices do not store data after measuring. So students had the idea of developing an IoT-integrated automatic body temperature measurement and hand washing machine that can be used at the university.”

“With its AI application, the machine can identify faces with masks and helmets. Students also programmed voice for interaction.”

The current version of the machine has one more function: that of extracting data to provide to both the university and the city Centre for Diseases Control and Prevention.

“The machine’s practicality is high in terms of COVID-19 prevention and control,” Hằng told Việt Nam News.

The machine won the second prize in the university’s annual Science and Technology Symposium for Office for International Study Programmes Students. 

Many other companies and the National Institute of Occupational and Environmental Health in Hà Nội have developed COVID-19 sample collection booths that avoid direct contact.

They are being used at health facilities in HCM City, Hà Nội and Bắc Giang Province. Otherwise, medical staff need to wear protective clothes from head to toe even in the summer heat.

The National Institute of Occupational and Environmental Health has created two small fans that generate wind inside protective clothes, helping reduce heat.

The fans are attached to the protective clothes, the institute said.

Robotic assistance for COVID-19 screening

Many people in HCM City receive calls from phone numbers 1800.1119 and 01800.1119 seeking information about COVID symptoms and travel to areas with the disease.

The Centre for Diseases Control and Prevention said the city is using a robotic assistant to automatically make phone calls to update data about health in the community and detect and report suspected cases so that officials could take samples for testing in time.

The Department of Information and Communications has developed a digital map for providing information about quarantine areas and those under lockdown and the COVID situation in the city to the public.

On June 21 the department put up a new version of a digital map at https://bando.tphcm.gov.vn to replace the existing one.

It has 3D images to ensure easier use and a better experience for people.

It also has added functions like rapidly tracing, gathering, seeking, and sharing COVID information with many sites through QR codes, social media and e-mails.

Using the map, users can find optimal travel routes to avoid COVID-hit areas and limit going to high-risk transmission ones.

Lecturers, staff, and students at universities throughout the country are producing hand sanitisers.

The Miền Đông University of Technology in Đồng Nai Province is producing 4,000 bottles of hand sanitisers totally in line with the World Health Organisation’s guidelines and tested at the Pasteur Institute in HCM City.

Currently they are used at the university’s dormitory, which is a COVID isolation site. — VNS