New Delhi, Jul 21 (IANS): Smart wearables maker Garmin India on Tuesday announced a partnership with PhysioQ, a non-profit organization that will connect registered user's health data from Garmin smartwatches to PhysioQ-Neo platform for Covid-19 research.

"It is a big step that we have taken towards fighting the battle against the pandemic. With the collected data and the support from PhysioQ research tools, we will be able to provide people with the ability to monitor their health status and well as their family members," Ali Rizvi, Director of Garmin India said in a statement.

PhysioQ- Neo is working with Garmin to collect key health data - Heart Rate, Respiration and SpO2 through their smartwatches.

Data shared by PhysioQ-Neo users will be anonymized and aggregated to aid medical researchers studying novel coronavirus to combat this and future pandemics. This will be a freely available tool for all researchers.

"The sharing of your data to defeat Covid-19 initiative that we have started with Garmin is an effort to help the researchers get the information they need outside the hospital to understand the disease. Garmin users can actually donate their data and make a difference in fighting against these pandemic diseases," Christopher Peng, PhysioQ-NEO Co-founder and President, added.

PhysioQ's Neo app will be available on Android and iOS platforms for free and is compatible with Garmin's range of smartwatches that tracks SpO2, including the latest Venu, vivoactive 4, vivomove 3 series, Forerunner 245/245M, Forerunner 945, fA"nix 6 series, vivosmart 4, and fA"nix 5X Plus.