Leveraging Deep Learning for COVID-19 Detection: A Comparative Study Using ResNet Models on X-Ray Images

The COVID-19 pandemic has rapidly spread across the globe, infecting millions of people, with no signs of slowing down. This continuous surge in cases presents a major challenge for healthcare systems worldwide. To combat the exponential rise in infections, medical researchers have primarily relied on RT-PCR testing to distinguish between COVID-19 positive and negative cases. However, this approach faces significant hurdles, particularly in low-income countries where these tests are often too expensive and inaccessible in rural areas. Another critical challenge is the shortage of skilled healthcare professionals, especially doctors and radiologists, whose expertise is in high demand for diagnosing and treating COVID-19 patients. As a result, healthcare resources have been stretched to their limits. To address these issues, innovative solutions are essential, and artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) offer promising possibilities. In medical diagnostics, AI, ML, and deep learning (DL) have demonstrated remarkable accuracy. This study explores the application of DL models, specifically ResNet-34 and ResNet-50, for COVID-19 detection using X-ray images. The results indicate an impressive accuracy of 96.4% with ResNet-34. To comprehensively evaluate the performance of these models, the study employs various quantitative metrics, including Matthews Correlation Coefficient (MCC), F1 Score, Precision, and Recall. By contributing to both the effective detection of COVID-19 and addressing the shortage of healthcare professionals, this research provides a hopeful step forward in the ongoing fight against the pandemic.