COVID-19 Infection Detection from Chest X-Ray Images Using Hybrid Social Group Optimization and Support Vector Classifier

A novel strain of Coronavirus, identified as the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-2 (SARS-CoV-2), outbroke in December 2019 causing the novel Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19). Since its emergence, the virus has spread rapidly and has been declared a global pandemic. As of the end of January 2021, there are almost 100 million cases worldwide with over 2 million confirmed deaths. Widespread testing is essential to reduce further spread of the disease, but due to a shortage of testing kits and limited supply, alternative testing methods are being evaluated. Recently researchers have found that chest X-Ray (CXR) images provide salient information about COVID-19. An intelligent system can help the radiologists to detect COVID-19 from these CXR images which can come in handy…