Can infrared technology slow down the spread of COVID-19?

With any disease, early detection saves lives, the same applied to the Covid-19 disease. But with CVID, detection is the biggest problem, according to experts, the fastest test return results in 15 minutes, and in some cases, it can take up to a week.

One of the symptoms of COVID-19 is fever, and thermal imaging can be used to detect these spikes in temperature due to fever.
This wouldn’t be the first time thermal technology is used to detect viral outbreaks.

Infrared cameras were used to detect symptoms of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), H1 N1 and the Ebola virus.

The demand for infrared technology is at an all-time high with the infrared camera market expected to grow from $6 Billion in 2019 to $10 Billion by 2026.

Infrared technology explained

Infrared is part of the electromagnetic spectrum, falling within the 700 nanometers to the 1-millimetre range. This is just outside the visible spectrum light, meaning we cannot see it with the naked eye but are able to detect it as heat.

All living organisms emit varying degrees of infrared radiation; the body cools itself down by omitting heat light, known as longwave infrared radiation.

Besides its use in medicine and diagnostics, infrared has several other applications: It is used inside remote TVs, the military uses them for night vision, navigation and surveillance.

In addition, firefighters also use Infrared to detect humans trapped inside burning buildings. Search and Rescue to detect humans trapped inside collapsed structures, mines and underground structures, Forrest and mountain rescue.

Infrared application in detection of COVID-19

Some patients with Covid 19 do not exhibit fever as a symptom, and some do not exhibit any symptoms at all. But experts agree that Infrared technology can be part of the solution.

It should be mandatory for airports, schools and all other places of high density.