Detecting COVID-19 Effectively with Transformers and CNN-Based Deep Learning Mechanisms

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a major global concern in the field of respiratory diseases, with healthcare institutions and partners investing significant resources to improve the detection and severity assessment of the virus. In an effort to further enhance the detection of COVID-19, researchers have investigated the performance of current detection methodologies and proposed new approaches that leverage deep learning techniques. In this article, the authors propose a two-step transformer model for the multi-class classification of COVID-19 images in a patient-aware manner. This model is implemented using transfer learning, which allows for the efficient use of pre-trained models to accelerate the training of the proposed model. The authors compare the performance of their proposed model to other CNN models commonly used in the detection of COVID-19. The experimental results of the study show that CNN-based deep learning networks obtained an accuracy in the range of 0.76–0.92. However, the proposed two-step transformer model implemented with transfer learning achieved a significantly higher accuracy of 0.9735 ± 0.0051. This result indicates that the proposed model is a promising approach to improving the detection of COVID-19. Overall, the findings of this study highlight the potential of deep learning techniques, particularly the use of transfer learning and transformer models, to enhance the detection of COVID-19. These approaches can help healthcare institutions and partners to reduce the time and difficulty in detecting the virus, ultimately leading to more effective and timely treatment for patients.