Robots stand in for medical staff

Intelligent throat-swabbing robot is playing an important role in the COVID-19 fight, according to a statement released by the Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Health on Monday.

The robot, which was jointly developed by the institute and the Shenyang Institute of Automation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Liaoning province has collected more than 80 throat swab samples so far after they were officially put into service in Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Health on Feb 28.

The robot is successful in more than 95 percent of swabbings on the first try, greatly easing pain and reducing the damage of the patients, according to the statement on the WeChat account of Nanshan Respiration.

"The intelligent robot has played a very important role in helping prevent medical staff from being infected with the deadly disease. It has become the primary means of collecting samples from patients," the statement said.

Throat-swab sampling is an important way to detect COVID-19 patients, but it carries a high risk of infection for nurses and other medical staff because of the close contact with patients, the statement said.

The novel coronavirus is transmitted mainly via droplets of bodily fluids, it said.

According to the statement, 1,716 medical staff members from 422 hospitals and medical institutions on the Chinese mainland have been infected by the coronavirus infection as of Feb 11. Five of those have died.