As stated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Omicron subvariants will soon account for the bulk of new COVID infections in the U.S.

According to CDC data, Omicron subvariants BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 currently account for 44% of new COVID cases, compared to 32% last week. In the coming week, these subvariants will probably start to dominate.

Meanwhile, the once-dominant omicron BA.5 is being dislodged and now accounts for 29% of reported cases. People with highly weakened immune systems, such as organ transplant recipients and cancer patients receiving chemotherapy, are particularly at risk from BQ.1 and BQ.1.1.

People with weakened immune systems frequently may not respond adequately to the Covid vaccinations and so require extra drugs to provide them with viral protection. Evusheld, an antibody cocktail, is frequently taken by persons with moderately or severely weakened immune systems in order to protect them against life-threatening illness. Every six months, it is given as two shots.

The National Institutes of Health state that Evusheld is probably not effective against BQ.1 and BQ.1.1. As these subvariants proliferate, persons with weakened immune systems become more and more vulnerable.

Bebtelovimab, a monoclonal antibody that persons with weakened immune systems can use to prevent serious illness from COVID following an infection, is likely susceptible to BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 as well.

Paxlovid, an antiviral from Pfizer, is still effective but is frequently ineffective for organ transplant patients because of interactions with other treatments they require. In a radio interview last week, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House Chief Medical Advisor, stated that as the more immunologically evading BQ subvariants rise on a weekly basis, the United States is reaching a turning point in the pandemic. If these more recent versions end up dominating the market any more than they currently do, Fauci warned, some of the tools in their arsenal may be negated.

Additionally, no alternatives to medications like Evusheld are under development. Dr. Ashish Jha, the director of the White House’s COVID response, has accused Congress of neglecting to approve additional funding for the country’s pandemic response. Since the spring, Republicans have stopped more Covid funding.

Jha told reporters at the White House this month, they had thought that over time, as the outbreak went along and their fight against this virus went along, they would be growing the medical cabinet.

According to Jha, vulnerable people are at risk since the medicine closet has actually been reduced due to a lack of congressional financing. Joe Biden, the president, stated last month that this winter, Covid poses a unique hazard to persons with weakened immune systems. The president advised them to discuss safety measures with their doctors.

Fauci advised wearing masks indoors or in public this fall and winter for those who have vulnerable people in their homes as well as those who have a high risk of contracting COVID. Before attending indoor social gatherings where vulnerable people will be present, people should think about getting quick COVID testing, according to Fauci. He urged everyone who could to get a flu vaccination and a COVID booster this fall.

Utilizing tests, donning masks when necessary, and receiving vaccinations are all excellent ways to ensure that people don’t transfer infections, he said. Because BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 are related to BA.5, U.S. health authorities believe the omicron BA.5 boosters should offer adequate defence for the general populace against these subvariants.

The Point-of-Care AI-DR is the first artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted system that can be integrated into handheld and desktop fundus cameras frequently used in clinics and hospitals to detect diabetic retinopathy (DR) and diabetic macular edema (DME). It has been developed by Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute.

Point-of-Care AI-DR detects DR and DME in 5 to 10 seconds and evaluates immediately the quality of the image prior to diagnosis to avoid AI misunderstandings. Based on the fundus images, it identifies lesions and evaluates the corresponding severity levels.

Additionally, it can detect 14 additional frequent ocular fundus anomalies, including conditions linked to the retina, blood vessel alterations, and illnesses of the optic nerve. Moreover, half of diabetics will get DR, and one in 15 will acquire DME, as per the National Eye Institute. Point-of-Care AI-DR enhances diabetes health monitoring and treatment by recognising defects and intensity stages of DR and DME, which lowers the chances of loss of vision or blindness brought on by diabetic eye problems.

Point-of-Care AI-DR combines the knowledge of ophthalmologists with AI analysis to combine human and artificial intelligence. To increase the effectiveness of the overall interpretation, it employs complementary medical AI models to carry out individual diagnostic tasks, including classifying and identifying symptoms, Dr. Pang-An Ting, ITRI’s general director of Information and Communications Research Laboratories, remarked.

A national repository for data related to life sciences has recently been constituted by the Indian government.

A data disaster recovery centre has been built at the National Informatics Centre in the state of Odisha, while the Indian Biological Data Center (IBDC) is located at the Regional Centre for Biotechnology in Faridabad, Haryana. The IBDC, which houses the Brahm high-performance computing facility, has a four petabyte data storage capacity. Additionally, it operates a web-based dashboard that offers individualised access, data input, data analysis tools, and real-time SARS-CoV-2 variant tracking.

Through two portals, the Indian Nucleotide Data Archive and Indian Nucleotide Data Archive—Controlled Access, the IBDC has already begun to offer nucleotide data submission services. It currently contains more than 200 million bases after receiving more than 200,000 inputs from more than 50 research centres across the nation.

As per the mandate provided by the Biotech-PRIDE (Promotion of Research and Innovation via Data Exchange) standards, the data centre has been set up to store all life science data produced from publicly financed research in the country. The aforementioned standards, which were released last year, make it easier and more possible to share knowledge of biology, facts, and data that have been produced through regional research.

The FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) concepts are another commitment made by the IBDC.

Researchers doing computationally intensive analysis have access to its computational resources. IBDC will soon introduce more data access and submission portals for different types of data.

Medical databases that reflect the diversity of India’s population are now being created. The Indian Council of Medical Research, the Indian Institute of Science, and ARTPARK are the organisations leading the program. Currently, they are trying to standardise data collection from partner medical centers and curate data in order to make it accessible to the local research and innovation community.

As soon as parts of the world caught wind of the COVID-19 virus, it only spread outward even further. Because of this, what’s supposed to be limited to select locations has now grown uncontrollably. Considering it’s a viral disease, nearly all medical establishments were challenged by COVID-19 when countless complications sprung up, from the shortage of staff to full patient capacity.

With the healthcare system set in place being overwhelmed by the landslide of COVID-19 cases, patient engagement will end up degrading at a fast rate. Although COVID cases are gradually slowing down, many areas within the healthcare system still need extensive recovery. Even departments unrelated to the virus are still affected since there’s no clear strategy on how to increase patient volume in a dental office and other ‘unneeded’ areas.

Despite having little engagement occurring, countless civilians still require medical attention. But with the pandemic hindering usual procedures, some of them are reluctant to have an appointment face-to-face, while others are unable to receive medical attention because of circumstances. To curb the effects of the pandemic, healthcare must learn to adapt to improve patient engagement.

1. Maximize Online Communication

Safety is the healthcare system’s highest priority, regardless of whether it’s for the patients or practitioners. But with how easy it is for the infected person to spread the virus across people within the vicinity, face-to-face interactions are extremely discouraged. Considering that’s how appointments and other procedures were typically done before the pandemic, most healthcare establishments either end up ‘frozen’ or too overwhelmed to maintain social distancing while hordes of patients are in a state of hysteria.

With numerous technological advancements, digitization is one of the best solutions for managing patient flow. Because instead of making an appointment (or attending one), patients and practitioners can still get in touch through the internet. Granted, many medical providers have the assumption that digitized health services (such as telehealth) are ‘subpar’ compared to attending to the patient personally. However, that’s the last thing anyone would want in a post-pandemic world.

Considering most of the population is connected to the internet, converting some procedures, like appointment-setting or consultations digitally provides convenience to practitioners and patients. With the internet easily accessible anywhere on any device, the patient can stay in the safety of their home when attending an appointment. At the same time, medical establishments have a lighter workload since patient flow is divided between at-risk procedures and digitized, with practitioners allocated in their respective areas.

2. Develop Patient-Friendly Platforms

Although the internet is accessible, it’s useless if the medical establishment doesn’t apply it, particularly their online platform. Since they’re gradually adapting to digitization, creating a website dedicated to advertising the services available in the establishment is one way to broaden its reach. Therefore, when programming it, ensure that the website is easy to traverse. Otherwise, the patient might sign into the wrong services due to a misunderstanding.

Hire an IT expert to design the website to avoid complications from cropping up. Given their experience, they’ll be able to coherently encode the necessary details that present the medical establishment’s services. Moreover, having an expert onboard will dedicate their time to maintaining the website for an optimized experience.

3. Implement Automation

Although experts and practitioners are expected to perform their respective tasks precisely, they’re still human, and so do the patients. Forgotten appointments are bound to happen, especially if both parties are occupied with something else. Automation can lighten the load for everyone involved.

From the medical establishment’s perspective, automating some of the processes reduces the number of anomalies in the system. After all, some of the most pressing issues providers encounter are missed appointments and ‘no-shows.’ Since they have countless tasks waiting for them in the establishment, reminding each patient to attend their appointment already sounds tedious. However, automation can shoulder this task, among other things, considering how helpful technology has been to the medical field.

As for the patient, they must accept that the medical staff is sometimes unavailable, considering how busy everyone is post-pandemic. Instead of succumbing to their misfortune, automating some procedures ensures patients are tended to without the constant presence of a professional.

4. Ensure Flexibility

One of the reasons behind the healthcare system and the patient’s hesitation to accept digitization is because of how many concerns it crops up. Hacking is prevalent in the digital world. However, the more support digitization has, the better the system can secure it. Therefore, providers can offer more payment options for maximum flexibility and help patients avoid debt.

Takeaway

The pandemic became a harsh eye-opener for the healthcare system. Considering how many problems were brought to light, patient engagement received the brunt of it. But be that as it may, civilians still count on the healthcare system now more than ever. Therefore, necessary changes must be applied for patient engagement to pick up and be managed properly.

Manipal Hospitals has partnered with Google Cloud to strengthen its capabilities for online and remote care while utilising AI to improve the patient experience.

In order to facilitate virtual visits, the alliance will implement Amwell telehealth technology. Amwell has been Google’s top choice in telehealth partners since 2020 in order to broaden access to virtual care delivery around the globe. Through technologies that automate waiting rooms and checkout, offer automated language translations, and intelligently triage cases, Google Cloud and Amwell are enhancing telehealth experiences.

Manipal’s collaboration with Google Cloud aims to power virtual care as well as develop a digital pharmacy and provide remote patient monitoring skills.

The collaboration will also enable Manipal to enhance patient interactions like scheduling appointments and looking for doctors by utilising Google Cloud’s conversational AI features.

The hospital chain has hired Google Cloud to assist in leveraging cutting-edge technologies to tackle some of its urgent issues, improve access to care, and more accurately predict the demands of their service quality. It is currently one of India’s largest healthcare providers, managing a chain of around 28 hospitals with more than 7,500 beds.

According to COO Karthik Rajagopal, this most recent cooperation gives Manipal the chance to provide high-quality treatment to underprivileged populations all around India, particularly in tier II and tier III regions.

Manipal recently formed partnerships to improve its capacity for remote care. It made an announcement last month about a collaboration to install remote patient monitoring technology with UK-based Isansys Lifecare. In order to continuously monitor the conditions of critically ill patients outside of the ICU, it has deployed Isansys’ Patient Status Engine gadget in its wards. It now has plans to extend the installation to every hospital in the chain.

Early this year, Manipal collaborated with the Singapore-based health tech firm ConnectedLife to launch a virtual platform for remote patient condition monitoring.