Improving Long COVID patient recovery through voice-based AI symptom tracking and personalised rehabilitation

慢性冠状病毒病是一种疾病，全世界4.78亿新冠肺炎患者中的40%受到了这种疾病的影响。英国有130万人患有长期冠状病毒病。这种疾病非常虚弱，会严重影响精神健康、家庭、就业和整体生活质量。在英国，由于长时间的COVID，NHS工作人员的缺勤损失了近200万天。用于管理长冠状病毒的应用程序很少，零使用语音来检测/跟踪长冠状病毒的症状。虽然全面涵盖了康复的一般原则，但现有的APP缺乏对新冠肺炎的特异性。65岁以上人群中，60%的人不使用智能手机，这是一个关键的风险群体。根据NHS的长期COVID计划，我们需要其他方法来公平地接触到人们，具体地管理长期COVID，支持集中的长期COVID康复和结果。这是我们项目的重点。DDM是该项目的主要合作伙伴，它已经提供了跨设备的多平台应用程序，包括Alexa、谷歌助手和智能电视等基于语音的助手。DDM目前为接受肥胖症、2型糖尿病和痴呆症护理的人提供支持。我们的平台使用人工智能提供个性化教育和行为改变支持，以提供治疗护理计划和行为提示，帮助人们维持积极的健康行为。我们的应用程序可以在亚马逊的Alexa设备和智能扬声器/电视上使用。我们正在与伦敦大学的人工智能专家Royal Holloway和为该项目捐赠Alexa Echo秀的智能扬声器制造商亚马逊合作。我们计划调整我们现有的一流的行为变化应用程序，通过与支持Alexa的设备上基于语音的助理应用程序进行语音通信来监控长期COVID的症状，并提供专注的多学科康复护理计划，以满足身体、精神和社会需求，并跟踪结果。为了缓解健康不平等，以及南亚人和黑人背景的人患慢性冠状病毒病的风险更大，我们将推出印地语、旁遮普语和阿拉伯语的应用程序。这意味着年轻人和老年人都可以通过直观的基于语音的助手获得根据他们的喜好和语言量身定做的康复支持，帮助他们通过呼吸、力量恢复和精神健康的专家康复来管理长期冠状病毒病的症状。

Long COVID is an illness that has affected 40% of the world's 478 million survivors of COVID-19.\[6\] 1.3 million people have Long COVID in the UK.\[7\] The condition is highly debilitating can significantly affect mental wellbeing, family, employment, and overall quality of life. Nearly 2 million days are lost in NHS staff absences in England due to Long COVID. There are few apps that are used to manage Long COVID and zero use voice to detect/track symptoms of Long COVID. Although comprehensively covering general rehabilitation principles, existing apps lack Covid-19 specificity. 60% of people over 65, a key risk group, do not use a smartphone. As per the NHS Long COVID plan, we need other ways to reach people equitably to manage Long COVID specifically, support focused Long COVID rehabilitation and outcomes.This is the focus of our project. DDM, the lead partner of this project, already provides a multi-platform app across devices including voice-based assistants like Alexa, Google Assistant and smart TVs. DDM currently provides support to people receiving care for obesity, type 2 diabetes and dementia. Our platform provides personalised education and behaviour change support using Artificial Intelligence to provide a therapeutic care plan and behavioral nudges to help people sustain positive health behaviors. Our app is available on Amazon's Alexa devices and smart speakers/TVs.We are partnering with Royal Holloway, University of London who are experts in AI, and Amazon, the maker of smart speakers who is donating Alexa Echo Shows for the project. We plan to adapt our existing best-in-class behavioral change app to monitor the symptoms of Long COVID through communication by voice with our voice-based assistant app on Alexa-enabled devices, and to provide a focused multidisciplinary rehabilitation care plan addressing physical, mental and social needs, and outcomes tracking. To mitigate health inequalities, and as South Asians and Black ethnic backgrounds are at greater risk of Long COVID, we will make the app available in Hindi, Punjabi and Arabic.This means that young and older people alike will be able to access rehabilitation support tailored to their preferences and language through an intuitive voice-based assistant to help them manage the symptoms of Long COVID through specialist rehabilitation for breathing, strength recovery, and mental wellbeing.