Together with six medical and technology companies Henkel (Düsseldorf, Germany) has developed an innovative smart health patch that allows continuous, remote and wireless monitoring of the respiration, heart rate and soon also temperature of patients. The product – initially set up to monitor the vital functions of patients with heart failure and epilepsy – will soon be tested for the use of monitoring coronavirus patients in a Belgian hospital. The partners aim to further roll-out the technology over the next month to respond to a potential new coronavirus surge in autumn.

Swiss start-up Adamant Innotech and CSEM (Neuchâtel, Switzerland) are developing a rapid, highly sensitive serological test to determine if a person has been previously infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus (the causative agent of COVID-19) and other types of viruses. The device will be based on mature optical microarray technology already used in other medical applications. The new biosensor is intended to give results in one to two hours after simultaneously probing for up to 20 different types of antibodies while tracing for various past infections, such as COVID-19, Influenza or SARS.