Japan is using robots to improve COVID-19 testing.
On Tuesday, Japan’s health minister watched a demonstration of a prototype COVID-19 automated testing system that uses a robotic arm to take a sample from the nose of a human and can yield the results in around 80 minutes.
The Kawasaki Heavy Industries Inc.-built robot device fits into a regular shipping container that can be transported by truck and set up at stadiums, theme parks and other mass gatherings, the company said.
At the demonstration, Minister of Health Norihisa Tamura told reporters. “Looking at the global trend, we need to increase the number of people receiving tests, and the demand for preventive testing is rising,”
The administration of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has drawn criticism over Japan’s lack of research. His government is under pressure to demonstrate that the pandemic is under control less than 200 days before the start of the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games – already postponed by a year – and that vaccines have yet to begin.
Without committing to using the Kawasaki Heavy set-up, the use of robot testing systems will help conserve medical manpower and increase overall precision, Tamura said.
The prototype facility shown on Tuesday uses human-driven robotic arms to gather individual samples and perform tests for polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The device is installed in 40-foot mobile shipping containers that can store up to 2,000 samples every 16 hours.
Its creators claim it provides higher scale efficiencies and better security for medical personnel, who can also conduct remote testing.
Japan has performed fewer studies than other major economies since the beginning of the pandemic, concentrating on outbreak clusters and virus tracing. According to government data, Japan conducts about 55,000 PCR tests daily, less than half of its capacity.
Japan has weathered the pandemic better than other other economies, with 337,000 cases and 4,598 fatalities. Even so, the nation is trapped by a third wave of infections that have proven to be more prevalent and lethal than previous ones, causing the government this month to declare a new state of emergency.
Suga said his government is aiming for the approval of the first COVID-19 vaccine and inoculations by the end of February, which would be months behind many other nations.
Source: Japan Today
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