Canadian technology company, VitalHub Corp, announced on April 8 the first deployment of a blockchain-based coronavirus screening tool. The tool will be used by a Region of Waterloo-owned long-term care facility called Sunny Side Home.

According to the announcement, a request by Sunnyside Home resulted in the development of DOCit — a blockchain-driven app which will help to screen residents for common COVID-19 symptoms.

The tool seeks to deploy and configure any screening or recurring task, enabling reporting standards for care providers, operations staff, and National, Provincial, or Regional health authorities.

Efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak in Canada

Julie Wheeler, the administrator of Sunnyside Homes, made the following comments on the usefulness of electronic screening during the ongoing pandemic:

“When we reached out to VitalHub to help us with resident screening they were able to develop and implement something in 24 hours. Every minute counts when it comes to safety, having the capacity to respond to our needs so quickly is what every Long-Term Care Home needs.”

Among the features, DOCit records all visible symptoms such as respiratory diseases, fever, shortness of breath, and headaches. It then shares them in real-time, to reduce the risk of virus transmission, according to Sunnyside Home.

VitalHub CEO, Dan Matlow, said the following about the solution presented by his company:

“As a home-specific, configurable assessment, the DOCit solution provides more in-depth analysis of COVID patients, equipping care providers with the ability to identify symptom trending and clusters of affected individuals quickly and early on, which we have learned is of critical importance in fighting the pandemic.”

Blockchain’s solutions applied in other nations to combat COVID-19

The application of blockchain technology in the fight against COVID-19 has been gaining popularity in recent weeks, and the World Health Organization (WHO) is one of the entities that has shown interest in using blockchain technology to lessen the effects of the current pandemic.

Cointelegraph reported on March 28 that the WHO joined forces with major blockchain companies to launch a distributed ledger technology (DLT) -based platform which enables early detection of coronavirus carriers and infection hotspots.

On April 6, the Canada-based company, Emerge, launched a COVID-19 tracking blockchain app called Civitas to assist local authorities in many nations, and focused on the Latin America region.