Australian technology is being rushed to Asia to help fight coronavirus

Technology developed in Australia is being exported to Asia to track the progression of coronavirus.

A doctor takes care of patient in an isolation ward in a hospital in Yinan County, in east China's Shandong province. Source: AAP

Adelaide company Micro-X has announced its locally-developed technology will be used to help combat coronavirus in several Asian countries. 

The company has received $750,000 worth of orders for its lightweight x-ray machines as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases nears 60,000. 

“While these are terrible circumstances with the coronavirus epidemic spreading so quickly, we are pleased that our equipment will soon be able to assist medical teams with their response in affected countries,” Micro-X managing director Peter Rowland said.

The machines can be used in emergency wards to take chest x-rays which are a key tool in monitoring the progression of the pneumonia-like symptoms of severe coronavirus infection. 

The Mixcro-X bedside carts use miniature tubes made from revolutionary carbon nano-tube emitters, in mobile units suited to emergency clinics.

“The first units are being packed for shipping and will leave Australia early next week,” Mr Rowland said.

Peter Rowland is the Managing Director of Micro-X. Source: SBS

“It’s an ultra-high speed delivery and we will be working around the clock,” he said.

Additional x-ray imaging capabilities are being deployed in many countries to meet a rising need to track patients in the advanced stages of the disease.

“We are proud that an Adelaide company is able to help people infected with this virus,” Mr Rowland said.

The lightweight x-ray carts are suitable for use in temporary hospital quarantine buildings. Source: SBS

Mobile x-ray imaging units are suited to infection control procedures, and are flexible for use in temporary hospital quarantine buildings.

“The carts are smaller, lighter and less complex and for bedside chest x-rays it’s ideal for emergency isolation wards.”

Like pneumonia, chest x-rays are used to detect fluid in the lungs when patients exhibit extreme respiratory distress,” he said.

Mr Rowland said the order will be completed within four weeks.

The carbon nanotube technology was developed in Adelaide in conjunction with the University of Adelaide and Flinders University.

Professor Jamie Quinton is a nanotechnology expert. Source: SBS

“It allows [sick] people to have treatment taken to them and that revolutionises modern medicine,” Professor Jamie Quinton, an expert in nanotechology at Flinders University, said.