Covid 19

How partners are using Happitech
technology during COVID19

Using Happitech’s smartphone medically validated technology it is possible to measure a range of vital signs connected to the symptoms of COVID-19 (Fever, Infection, and Difficulty breathing). This provides crucial information, hour to hour, on the progress of the patients. Happitech’s CE certified technology allows to track populations at a large scale and track the biomarkers of the disease over time:

Heart Rate

Linked to upcoming fever, higher
heart rates linked to infection

Heart Rate variability

Linked to breathing rates, stress and
deterioration of cardiovascular activity

Atrial fibrillation

Linked to increased risk of
COVID-19

Using these vital signs, Happitech enables large scale monitoring simply by using the
smartphone with no additional hardware, providing important health information.

One of the top 8 Dutch startups in the fight against COVID19

Happitech’s work has been recognized as one of the top 8 Dutch startups in the fight against COVID19 by the Prince of the Netherlands – Prins Constantijn of Oranje and the Dutch Startup Ecosystem Techleap.

Happitech COVID19 Use cases

Elevated Heart Rate as a potential sign of infection

Happitech has provided their heart rate technology as a module in a popular Corona Check App. Elevated heart rate might be a sign of infection and used in combination with other symptoms it can help prioritize patient care. The current use case is using elevated resting heart rate (>100) as a sign that an infection is present. If you have symptoms like shortness of breath + a fever of 38 °C in addition to elevated heart rate1, it could be a sign of infection and you might need to go to the hospital. The physician uses this information such as symptoms and heart rate to make informed care decisions and prioritize care.

Monitoring patients from the comfort of their home

60% of patients have avoided going to hospitals and doctors for care from the fear of infection during COVID19 2 Heart patients are avoiding important care and arrhythmias have been causing strokes some of which have been due to COVID193. Together with the largest heart hospital, we have developed a solution for monitoring heart patients from the comfort of their home using their own smartphone. Currently close to a 1000 patients are under monitoring.

Large Decentralized Clinical Studies

Using the data generated by the Photoplethysmography signal it is possible to conduct large scale decentralized clinical studies that easily collect medical grade data using the smartphone. For example: The MRC Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge has launched a research project using a remote monitoring platform together with our partner Huma in the Fenland Study.4
Through Huma’s smartphone app, researchers will ask participants to provide detailed health data including Happitech’s smartphone measurements to provide insights into the detection and progression of COVID-19.

The science behind

Heart rate and heart rate variability (HRV) are easily measured using today’s wearables and Happitech technology and can potentially provide early signs of illness.

Recent studies have shown the relationship between those biomarkers and COVID19 predicting cases day before the symptoms arose. 5 6 7

One the main reasons is that elevated heart rate is linked with increased risk of infection as a 1 °C rise in body temperature can increase heart rate by 8.5 beats per minute (b.p.m.) on average. 8

Initial results show it detected 15% of cases the day before symptoms began showing, 24% on the first day of symptoms and 33% of cases the day after. 9


1. “Cardiovascular complications of severe acute respiratory syndrome” – Pub Med. Accessed 31 Mar. 2021.

4. “MRC Epidemiology Unit launches study to monitor COVID-19” 23 Jul. 2020. Accessed 31 Mar. 2021.

7.”Pre-symptomatic detection of COVID-19 from smartwatch data” – Nature. 18 Nov. 2020, . Accessed 31 Mar. 2021.

8. “Fever and Cardiac Rhythm “| JAMA Internal Medicine | JAMA Network. Accessed 31 Mar. 2021.

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