COVID-19

An app that provides free psychological support during the pandemic

Psicovida‘s goal is to support the national community by ensuring equitable and free access to psychological crisis intervention in the current pandemic context. It is a mobile application that allows users to speak directly with qualified psychologists, through video calls, while providing several self-help strategies. The app is free and can be downloaded for Android and iOS.

The app is composed of specialised modules, according to the specific needs of users: stress and anxiety; loss and grief; the elderly and their families; pregnancy; career support; violence; dynamics management and family care. Communication through the platform is confidential and protects the users’ rights. This crisis intervention is brief and focused on immediate psychological stabilisation, but it does not replace a more thorough and regular psychological intervention, if that is the case.

The psychologists collaborating in each of the modules are hired through a register of civil society psychologists, and their participation is voluntary and supportive. However, empirically supported psychological intervention requires the specialised training of psychologists collaborating on the app. In this sense, the professionals have free access to a set of training resources provided by APsi-UMinho, in addition to a set of crisis intervention guidelines, developed according to the best practices.

Entities

INESC TEC

Outsystems

Associação de Psicologia da Universidade do Minho (APsi-UMinho)

Universidade do Minho

News

Observador | Free mobile application ensures psychological intervention to those in need

TVI 24 | Free mobile application ensures psychological intervention to those in need

SIC Notícias | Psicovida: the free app that provides psychological support to those in need

Público | Psicovida, the free app that provides psychological help to those in need

RTP | Covid-19: Free mobile application ensures psychological intervention to those who need it

Website

https://www.psicovida.eu 

Contacts

info@psicovida.eu

RADAR - Autonomous Robot for Disinfection at Hospitals

RADAR – an Autonomous Robot for Disinfection at Hospitals – is one of INESC TEC’s projects approved by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) within the scope of the Research 4 COVID-19 financing line. The autonomous robot developed by the Centre for Robotics in Industry and Intelligent Systems (CRIIS) will help disinfecting rooms at hospital units, through sensors and UV lamps.

The prototype is already finished and is in the testing phase. The robot will include an autonomous navigation system i.e. it will be able to locate and navigate through contaminated rooms, monitor the presence of people in the surroundings, and carry out the disinfection process independently. The architecture is modular and adaptable to different robotic platforms that already exist.

The robot will carry out a systematic and uninterrupted cleaning process, thus generating gains in terms of quality, effectiveness and productivity – by favouring the redirecting of human resources to other tasks. In addition, thanks to this robot, healthcare professionals and service providers will not be as exposed to toxic and corrosive products used in said disinfection procedures.

The robot has a graphical interface that helps users observing and changing the robot’s routes and position. The two sensors, one for movement detection, and another for heat detection, stop the disinfection process whenever people are detected. The quantity and power of UVC lamps are adjustable.

This system guarantees a disinfection of air and surfaces, with an efficiency of up to 99.9%, thus preventing and reducing the transmission of infectious diseases caused by microorganisms.

It offers several advantages, compared to conventional disinfection processes, such as reducing the exposure of service providers to toxic and corrosive products and not leaving chemical residues.

Entities

• INESC TEC (Coordinator);
• Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto (FEUP);
• Centro Hospitalar Universitário de São João (CHUSJ);
• Hospital de São Martinho, in Valongo.

News

BIP | INESC TEC tested a disinfection robot at a hospital in Valongo
Jornal de Notícias | Robô autónomo para desinfeção já existe e foi testado em Valongo
RTP 3 | INESC TEC adapta um robot para fazer a desinfeção automática de diversos locais, usando lâmpadas ultravioleta
Exame Informática | Este robô desinfeta hospitais e já foi testado em Valongo

STAWAY COVID App – Mobile application to track COVID-19 contagion

STAYAWAY COVID is a system that, thanks to the voluntary participation of the population, supports the country in the screening of COVID-19. The mobile application is available for iOS and Android (free). Download available here.

The STAYAWAY COVID app can be installed on mobile phones and used to detect the physical proximity between smartphones, in order to inform users who have been in the same space as someone infected with the new coronavirus over the previous 14 days. Thanks to this information, users can promptly request a diagnosis for the infection, even before the occurrence of any symptoms.

When a user is diagnosed with COVID-19, and after his/her permission, the codes he/she has broadcast over the previous 14 days will be publicly shared via an official server. This way, the application helps others by alerting and notifying them about their contact with someone infected with the virus. This process takes places without ever revealing the identity of the users involved.

In this sense, and thanks to STAYAWAY COVID, each citizen is informed, in a simple and totally safe way, about the possibility of contagion, taking into account the monitoring of previous contacts. If everyone uses the application, it will be a valuable and decisive ally to curb the progression of COVID-19, especially since there is no vaccine to treat this disease.

An INCoDe.2030 initiative supported by the Foundation for Science and Technology.

Entities

• INESC TEC;
• Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto (ISPUP);
• Keyruptive;
• Ubirider.

News

The Portugal News | 660,000 downloads of ‘Stayaway Covid’ application

The Portugal News|Covid-19 tracking app download a “civic duty”

Portugal Connexions | STAYAWAY COVID Tracking App Available

Website

https://stayawaycovid.pt/landing-page/

Contacts

stayaway@inesctec.pt 

PNEUMA – emergency ventilator

PNEUMA is an add-on device that automates the self-inflating bag, thus presenting itself as a last resort solution to ventilate patients having difficulty breathing. This field ventilator includes and enhances the main benefits of the self-inflating bag, recognised by healthcare professionals. The device is used regularly in the clinical context, but is now being adapted to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Considering the scarcity of ventilators in the actual context, INESC TEC and several other partners have been working on PNEUMA, a prototype for a low-cost and easy to assemble field ventilator, which aims to address the following demands:

• Temporary support in second and third-line hospitals:

Patients awaiting transfer to central hospitals, including patients without COVID-19.

• Scenario of moderate shortage of ventilators:

Alternative to transient invasive ventilation in patients with acute respiratory failure requiring volume and respiratory rate control;

Availability of ventilators for cases that require the fine monitoring of parameters - pressure exerted, inspiratory/expiratory ratio (I:E), etc.;

• Scenario of critical shortage of ventilators:

Possible alternative in the event of the complete absence of ventilators.

The team responsible for the development of this ventilator are working pro bono. The results will be available as open source, in order to enable the local production of this alternative ventilator in any country.

Entities

Coordination
INESC TEC - with the support by the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP)

Partners
IEP – Instituto Electrotécnico Português; INEGI – Institute of Science and Innovation in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering

In liaison with ARS Norte

Information reporting to INFARMED.

Support to validation and usability tests: FMUP/CHUSJ and ICBAS/CHUP – Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto/University Hospital Centre of São João and Abel Salazar Institute of Biomedical Sciences/Porto Hospital Centre

Advisors, other support and individual participants

In-kind and institutional support
BotnRoll 
SELT
AIMMAP – Associação dos Industriais Metalúrgicos, Metalomecânicos e Afins de Portugal

News

Jornal Económico | Indústria de metal nacional aposta na produção e doação de ventiladores
RTP | Faculdade de Engenharia do Porto desenvolveu ventilador de emergência
Exame Informática | Pneuma: Universidade do Porto prepara produção de ventilador de baixo custo
Sábado | Covid-19: Especialistas do Porto desenvolvem ventilador para apoiar hospitais portugueses
Público | Ventiladores made in Portugal em contra-relógio no combate à covid-19
BIP INESC TEC Magazine | INESC TEC desenvolve ventilador de pandemia para apoiar hospitais portugueses

More news

Website
https://pneuma.inesctec.pt/

Contactos
pneuma@inesctec.pt

Diaries of a Pandemic

The study “Diaries of a pandemic” invites citizens to answer a set of question on a daily basis, which will help understanding the evolution in the lives of Portuguese people during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The main objective of this study (launched on March 23) is to understand the dynamics of citizens’ adaptation to the COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal. Citizens are invited to answer a small set of questions on a daily basis (it should take 5 to 10 minutes). The questions are available online, and they aim to measure people’s social interactions and the frequency they resort to healthcare and commercial services – as well as the presence of symptoms and confirmed cases – during the course of the COVID-19 epidemic in Portugal.

In addition to the responses to the questionnaires, the only information requested is an email address, for the purposes of registering and receiving daily reminders. After signing up, each user will receive a daily reminder notifying them to answer the same set of questions, always concerning the previous 24 hours. Once a week, each participant will also be asked to answer a set of questions about their well-being in the context of the current epidemic.

Entities

Coordination

Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto (ISPUP)

Partners

INESC TEC and newspaper Público

News

Público | ISPUP, INESC TEC e PÚBLICO lançam "Diários de uma Pandemia"

Expresso  | Instituto da UPorto lança 'diários' para compreender adaptação ao surto

TSF | Inquérito indica que se fazem 6 novos testes diários por cada mil pessoas

Observador | Estudo do ISPUP revela que um terço dos inquiridos sente frustração por não cumprir rotinas

Visão | Covid-19: Um terço dos inquiridos sente frustração por não cumprir rotinas – estudo ISPUP

RTP | Comentário de Felisbela Lopes

Website

https://diariosdeumapandemia.inesctec.pt/

Contacts

comunicacao@ispup.up.pt
info@inesctec.pt

CoronaSurveys

An international team of researchers, including Carlos Baquero (INESC TEC and UMinho) and Raquel Menezes (UMinho), is measuring the real impact of COVID-19 in 150 countries, through research carried out on social media.

Everyone can access the survey of the “Measuring the Iceberg” study, available online, in 60 different languages.

During the initial stage, the respondents were asked to complete a survey with three questions: from which geographical area can you provide data, how many people do you know in the area and how many people in that area do you know who have COVID-19 symptoms or who may have had contact with the disease? The newest version of the survey includes a question about recent cases, in order to identify possible outbreaks.

In order to facilitate people’s participation, the project developed a mobile app, thus promoting the citizen’s involvement. The app is currently available for Android and iOS.

According to the answers obtained, the data are processed and managed to eliminate outliers, using statistical techniques. Then, they are compared with estimates representing the number of cases according to the evolution of the mortality ratio (via official data), and their relation with the mortality ration of cases identified in Wuhan (around 1.4%). This process is crucial to ensure the data accuracy. The method’s simplicity and correlation with the amount of cases resulting from serology studies (with similar percentages in Spain) are two of its main advantages. It is important to mention that the research carried out within the scope of the CoronaSurveys project is completely anonymous, and the participants and patients are not required to provide personal information that others could use to identify them.

The project has recently provided estimates of the number of active cases in the transmission phase, also identifying the expected proportion of undetected cases (based on the mortality ratios), and a world map that displays the current risks of contagion, according to said estimates.

In addition to the real-time processing of data, CoronaSurveys – for the most part, a research project – has a significant scientific potential.

Entities

Coordinator: IMDEA Networks, Madrid, Spain

Portuguese entities: Universidade do Minho e INESC TEC

Other entities: University of Washington, USA; U. Kaiserslautern, Germany; University of Trento, Italy; QMUL, UK; Inria Rennes, France; TU Darmstadt, Germany; Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Greece; U. Cyprus, Cyprus; USC, USA; Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, Ukraine; EvoLogics, Germany; UC3M, Spain; MIT, USA; Algolysis Ltd, Cyprus; U. Edinburgh, UK; Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Japan; U. Concepción, Chile; Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands.

News

Público | Covid-19: equipa de 150 países (Portugal incluído) lança questionário para saber quem tem sintomas

Renascença | "Covidografia" ou "Medir o icebergue". Sucedem-se as plataformas que "fazem contas" à Covid

Jornal de Negócios | Número real de infetados deve ser cinco vezes pior

Website

https://coronasurveys.com/

Contacts

gcii@reitoria.uminho.pt

info@inesctec.pt

Protective visors

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, several INESC TEC researchers are involved in the production of visors, which are currently being distributed among to the São João, Santo António, Gaia-Espinho and Pedro Hispano hospitals, as well as healthcare units in the Northern region. These visors are 3D printed and they are crucial to protect the healthcare professionals who are fighting against this pandemic.

INESC TEC contributed to the optimisation of the 3D models, as well as to the printing and logistics processes. Anticipating the dissemination of this initiative, INESC TEC developed an information and decision-support system for planning the production and distribution of printed products, such as visor supports and swabs.

Entities

Coordination
Institute of Science and Innovation in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (INEGI), Faculty of Engineering of the University do Porto (FEUP) and Porto School of Engineering (ISEP)

Partners
INESC TEC, students and several companies

News

P3 | A Academia do Porto está a combater a covid-19 com impressoras 3D (e não só)

Notícias ao Minuto | U.Porto e Politécnico criam viseiras para profissionais de saúde

S+ |  Covid-19: U.Porto e Instituto Politécnico criam viseiras para profissionais de saúde da região

INEGI | Já foram doadas mais de 5 mil viseiras de proteção individual impressas em 3D com ajuda do INEGI

U.Porto |  U.Porto mobiliza comunidade para a produção de viseiras de proteção

Contacts

comunicacao@inegi.up.pt
noticias@fe.up.pt
gci@isep.ipp.pt