Medical image-based detection of COVID-19 using Deep Convolution Neural Networks

The demand for automatic detection of Novel Coronavirus or COVID-19 is increasing across the globe. The exponential rise in cases burdens healthcare facilities, and a vast amount of multimedia healthcare data is being explored to find a solution. This study presents a practical solution to detect COVID-19 from chest X-rays while distinguishing those from normal and impacted by Viral Pneumonia via Deep Convolution Neural Networks (CNN). In this study, three pre-trained CNN models (EfficientNetB0, VGG16, and InceptionV3) are evaluated through transfer learning. The rationale for selecting these specific models is their balance of accuracy and efficiency with fewer parameters suitable for mobile applications. The dataset used for the study is publicly available and compiled from different sources. This study uses deep learning techniques and performance metrics (accuracy, recall, specificity, precision, and F1 scores). The results show that the proposed approach produced a high-quality model, with an overall accuracy of 92.93%, COVID-19, a sensitivity of 94.79%. The work indicates a definite possibility to implement computer vision design to enable effective detection and screening measures.