Smart ring can provide early warning of COVID-19 infection: experts  

Researchers claimed that a smart ring that constantly measures the wearer’s temperature could help determine whether the person was developing Covid-19, even if the symptoms were very subtle.

According to the details, experts from the University of California and MIT Lincoln Lab studied data on 50 people who owned sensor rings and had had Covid-19 before the study.

The researchers found that temperature data from the ring could reliably be used to detect the early onset of fever – a leading symptom of Covid-19 and the flu.

They warned that the study is a proof-of-concept effort with just 50 participants – adding that more data is needed to say if it is a reliable tool for detecting the virus.

Study author, Benjamin Smarr and colleagues, found fever onset happened before a subject reported any symptoms and in those who never reported symptoms, Mail Online reported.

“It supports the hypothesis that some fever-like events may go unreported or unnoticed without being truly asymptomatic.”

“Wearables may contribute to identifying rates of asymptomatic [illness] as opposed to unreported illness, [which is] of special importance in the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The goal of the wider Team Predict study of 65,000 people wearing an Oura ring is to develop an algorithm that can predict the onset of Covid-19 symptoms.

Researchers say they hope to reach that goal by the end of the year and that it will allow public health officials to act faster to contain the spread of the virus.

“With wearable devices that can measure temperature, we can begin to envision a public COVID early alert system.”