A hospital in Wuhan, China, the first area affected by the coronavirus epidemic in the world, is currently testing a revolutionary process for taking temperature. Thanks to communicating self-adhesive patches, health professionals can measure the temperature of a patient without having to approach him.

Today's innovation is a technology that has just been tested in a hospital in Wuhan, China. It is an electronic patch that you stick on your arm and that gives the temperature from a distance.

We knew the mercury thermometers, the infrared guns, here are now the communicating self-adhesive thermometers. Their advantage: being able to record all of a person's temperature changes for several days. And then retrieve them, remotely, on a mobile phone.

As you said, we just tested them in a hospital in Wuhan, China. Not on the sick, but on the medical staff. This makes it possible to spot immediately whoever begins to exhibit symptoms. It is also tested in a prison, still in China, there too to quickly detect signs of the disease in an inmate. No more touching the person and risking infection.

How big is this patch, how big is it?

No, it is the size of a large stamp. It's all flat (1 mm thick), flexible and you can bathe with it. Yet it is crammed with chips and circuits. It was developed by Fudan Microelectronics. Its objective is now to lower manufacturing costs to a few cents. This is the condition for distributing them in very large numbers.

What is the idea, to force everyone to wear it to identify those who have symptoms?

No, I do not think so. It is a patch with an autonomy of three days. So it should be changed every week. This would require too much discipline, if you are not sick or if you are not a professional.

But beyond the pandemic, it would also be very practical in everyday life. If you have a feverish child, for example. We put a patch on it and we receive the alerts directly on our phone. A new way to take temperature.