Online search data can help inform the public health response to COVID-19, according to a report from UCL. The data allows experts to predict a peak in cases on average 17 days in advance.
UCL has launched Virus Watch, inviting 50,000 households to take part in one of the largest and most comprehensive studies of COVID-19 in the UK.
The study, which will require participants to complete regular online symptom surveys, seeks to better understand community spread of the virus.
i-sense researchers from University College London, led by Dr Vasileios Lampos, in collaboration with Public Health England, Microsoft Research, and Harvard Medical School are looking at ways of tracking COVID-19 using online search data to better understand the true extent of community spread.
Their current analysis, which uses machine learning models to make predictions of potential prevalence of COVID-19 in a population, focuses on a number of countries, including the United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada, Australia, France, and Italy.
New research from Public Health England and members of i-sense at UCL, published in Environmental Research, suggests that monitoring online search terms related to the health impact of heatwaves could help contribute to public health surveillance systems in the UK and have potential benefits for countries that lack established public health surveillance systems.
i-sense team up with the Wellcome Africa Centre and CASA at UCL to help prevent HIV in South Africa.
i-sense Deputy Director Ingemar Cox has been awarded the IEEE Signal Processing Society's 2015 Sustained Impact Paper Award.
i-sense work with Google Flu Trends to develop their modelling techniques and support a more accurate picture of flu rates in the UK.
i-sense and the UCL Department of Philosophy are calling on the public to participate in a focus group on privacy and health care data.
i-sense Director will deliver the keynote lecture "Harnessing the power of mobile phones and big data for global health" at the IET Annual Healthcare Lecture 2015.
Professor Rachel McKendry will present the i-sense vision and our Rosalind Franklin Appathon to empower and recognise women in STEMM.
