Computer Vision in COVID-19: A Study

Abstract

Computer vision is a pioneering sub-field of artificial intelligence that is used in computers for throwing a light on the visual world and better understanding of it. In crucial times like COVID-19, computer vision is used to combat all the challenges that are been faced. In healthcare field, computer vision has been used to enhance the productivity of the various departments and also help in the development of the vaccine. Computer vision tasks include methods for acquiring, processing, analysing and understanding digital images, and extraction of high-dimensional data from the real world in order to produce numerical or symbolic information. Recently all these tasks are put to use in developing a systematic operation to tackle the challenges of COVID-19. Computer vision is used in thermal scanners, along with ML it is used in predicting virus spread, it is also used in AI systems in most of the Lab to help in development of the vaccine and also help in analysing factors like whether people maintaining social distancing or not, wearing masks or not and this analysis helps in decision making for government as well as an individual. Various companies are leveraging computer vision and artificial intelligence to battle COVID-19. From building chatbots to spread awareness to building special robots to maintain social distancing, the concept of computer vision has been proved beneficial to us in every other way. In this chapter, we will learn more on how computer vision is been used in medical imaging to diagnose and properly differentiate between viral fever, COVID-19 and pneumonia. Also how it is helping is faster report analysis of CT scans of lungs and how it is helping in faster detection of infected people. We will further discuss the future development and advancement of computer vision.