Kiwi ingenuity – a world first in the fight against Covid-19

A company here in Auckland, New Zealand has created a world-first in the global fight against Covid-19 – a piece of software that can help to slow the spread of the deadly virus. It’s an incredible piece of Kiwi ingenuity, from the country that has already written its own Covid-19 success story by eradicating the virus among its population.

And now this. Datamine, a smart, innovative data analytics company, has created an app, called ?larm, that’s an early warning device for Covid-19 infection, compatible with multiple brands of popular, affordable wearable devices. Know you’re sick before you feel sick, is the company’s catchphrase.

It’s a great Kiwi success story. We Kiwis see ourselves as innovators, and we also see ourselves as people of generosity and good hearts. Kindness has been a mantra for us, during our difficult weeks and months of lockdown. I think that’s why I’m so enthusiastic about this project – New Zealand helping the world. I like it.

Called ?larm, this new app overcomes one of the greatest obstacles to protecting our communities from the Covid-19 virus – that it’s spread by people who don’t know they’re infected. Once the virus enters the body, there are several days before a person begins to experience symptoms such as fever, cough and breathing difficulties. They feel fine, and so they go about their daily lives – but they are highly infectious. In fact, the two or three days before symptoms kick in are the most infectious of all.

The epidemiologist who is technical lead for Covid-19 at the World Health Organisation, Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, acknowledged this when she said: ‘The transmission of this virus is driven by people who are asymptomatic.’

So, being able to detect when someone’s infected before they actually feel sick was one of the holy grails of the Covid-19 fight, as Datamine founder Paul O’Connor quickly became aware when he began talking to medical experts about how his company could help. He realised his company was perfectly placed to find a solution: Datamine had already worked for two years with a precision health company, developing a secure ‘vault’ for the collection and storage of personal health data, at the same time working with wearables data, storing that data and analysing the data streams. 

He began researching the literature around using wearables to identify flu, and he soon came to believe similar techniques could be used to detect Covid-19. O’Connor created a team within his company, and they set to work. Over just three months, collaborating with medical clinicians in New Zealand, Australia, United Kingdom, Europe and the USA, they built a prototype.

It’s widely known that wearable fitness devices are able to detect their users’ vital signs such as heart rate and temperature. The FDA in the United States has approved remote use of wearables, acknowledging they are a simple tool to track users’ health information. What Datamine has done, is work with medical specialists to build robust models that analyse a person’s health data as it’s collected by their wearable, to detect hidden symptoms of the virus – the biometric changes that occur as the body begins fighting the virus, such as heartrate, heartrate variability and skin temperature.

Research into how wearables can be used to predict illness is progressing at a number of companies around the world, and it’s accepted that wearables can predict Covid-19 infection up to three days before a person begins to feel sick, with more than 90% accuracy.

What sets Datamine’s work apart, and makes ?larm such a powerful proposition, is not just its accuracy, but that it’s compatible with multiple wearable brands such as Apple, Samsung, Fitbit, Oura, Garmin, Huawei, Samsung, and can interface with Google Fit.

This is an awesome achievement, because of the size, affordability and potential growth of the wearables market. The overall wearables market stands at around 600 million devices in 2019, and is growing fast at the same time as devices become cheaper. This means this technology is highly accessible to everyone, and very capable of making a big difference to the way people can operate during the global pandemic.

New Zealand is about to return to alert level 1 in its management of Covid-19. We have had not had any new cases for two weeks and are the envy of many countries. The main use for ?larm here is probably at our borders, an added tool during the quarantine phase as people enter New Zealand from other parts of the world that remain heavily infected.

But in countries overseas, for instance the UK and USA, where community transmission is high, ?larm will be of great benefit to vulnerable people and those who work with them, to frontline healthcare workers, and also to businesses trying to operate safely. ?larm will reduce people’s fear of infecting others, and of becoming sick themselves. People will be able to feel a little more confident as they go about their daily lives, and if they get infected they can self-isolate sooner, before they infect many others, thus slowing the spread of the disease.

O’Connor says that in the course of his research he talked to several people in the United States who mentioned they were anxious about going home to vulnerable loved ones. He believes that ?larm can lower that fear considerably.

I’m excited that New Zealand innovators have made such a massive contribution to helping people around the world slow the spread of this deadly virus. Covid-19 has wreaked havoc on lives and livelihoods. ?larm will make it safer for people to go about their lives, reducing the danger to themselves and others.

From New Zealand to the world: a gift, from us to you.  

The app is available anywhere in the world and can be purchased through our website: www.elarm.health

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