The RESEARCH 4 COVID-19 call, created by FCT in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in collaboration with Agency for Clinical Research and Biomedical Innovation (AICIB), allocated 1.8M€ in funding for projects which showed relevant prospects in the fight against this new disease or mitigation of its negative effects.
e-CoVig was one of the submitted Técnico projects, proposing an automated system for remote surveillance of COVID-19 symptomatology and it was designated as accepted for funding on the 21st of April.
João Sanches will represent ISR-Lisboa/LARSyS in this project, which also counts with contributions from Centro Cardiovascular da Universidade de Lisboa (CCUL), BrainAnswer, Lda. (BA), Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Saúde de Coimbra (ESTeC) and, also from Instituto Superior Técnico, Instituto de Telecomunicações (IT).
Based on technology already developed in the last few years, e-CoVig intends to implement a low-cost technological solution by coupling an eHealth platform – which intakes, manages and allows for visualization of physiological data – to a ubiquitous system that can be used on a phone to acquire biological status like temperature or breathing, which can be important measures of symptoms.
This technology for remote follow-ups and surveillance will have a direct impact on Direcção Geral de Saúde (DGS) and the management of the SNS24 line. The goal is to have more automated interactions between patients and the National Health System, to reduce the risk of contamination and densify the monitoring process in the long run. The proposed system also has the ability to streamline the monitorization of many individuals at the same time and to generate automatic alerts.
Among the 66 projects proposed for funding, the Evaluation Committee decided to distribute 36% of the financial backing towards diagnosis, 17%, for clinical and epidemiological studies, 21% in regards to prevention, 9% for therapy, and 17% to other related areas. Read the full list of supported projects, here.
