“United Imaging's engineers are standing by 24 hours a day to respond to emergency calls from hospitals,” said the company in a statement, adding that “as a global company, United Imaging is committed to access for all to the best possible care worldwide and is proud to play a small part alongside so many who are going above and beyond in this moment.”

Siemens too has joined in the effort, donating in January a portable ultrasound, along with another ultrasound and a CT scanner to two hospitals in Wuhan, according to Reuters.


Equipment for diagnosing and treating the coronavirus is not the only need. The GE plant in Madison, for instance, has ramped up production of its R860 respirators to help patients who are unable to breathe on their own, with orders up nearly 20 percent since the outbreak, according to ABC-affiliate WKOW.

Similarly, Canon (China) Co. Ltd., Canon Medical Systems (China) Co. Ltd. and all members of the Canon Group plan to donate a full-body X-ray CT diagnosis system to the Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan to perform clinical tests for emphysema caused by the virus.

“Through the donation of the X-ray CT diagnosis system, the Canon Group aims to support medical professionals and those in other industries working to treat patients who have contracted the novel coronavirus,” said the company in a statement. “In addition, Canon will provide needed parts and maintenance to hospitals throughout China that use the company's medical devices.”

Other technologies such as AI are also playing their own role in the fight, with Infervision AI designing a Coronavirus AI solution to help clinicians detect and monitor the disease. Among the processes it is being applied to are pneumonia marking, abnormal and severe case analysis, patient triage, medical resources coordination, prior case comparisons and treatment assessments.

"The outbreak has put significant pressure on imaging departments, which are now reading over a thousand cases a day," said Infervision in a statement. "Patients and clinicians typically have to wait a few hours to get the CT results, but Infervision AI is improving the CT diagnosis speed for each case; and each minute saved is critical to decrease the chance of cross-contamination at the hospital."

More than 10,000 people have been infected by the novel coranavirus in at least 18 countries — surpassing the spread of the SARS epidemic in 2003. A human-to-human transmission case in the U.S. was confirmed Friday by the CDC, when they revealed that a Chicago woman had spread the virus to her husband. The World Health Organization (WHO) recently declared it a "global health emergency", with fears and concerns leading airlines to suspend flights to China and causing drops in the market.

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