MORE than 100 health companies will take center stage at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held in U.S. city of Las Vegas next month as the highly contagious Omicron variant is spreading around the world and the pandemic is far from over. CES 2022 will highlight leaders in health tech and showcase the latest products and solutions tackling the pandemic and improving people’s health, said the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), the trade group behind the world’s most influential and largest annual technology event, in a news release Monday, noting that the health category has grown significantly at CES in recent years. The trade show will return to Las Vegas as a mix of in-person and digital events between Jan. 5 and 8 next year. It was forced to become an all-digital event in January this year due to the pandemic. Health companies will showcase the latest innovations from companies tackling pandemic-related challenges. The latest health technologies including remote patient diagnostics and monitoring, digital therapeutics, mental wellness, wearables and telehealth services will also be featured during the event. Participating health companies include 3M, Abbott, AT&T Business, Colgate-Palmolive, Dassault Systemes, OMRON Healthcare, OrCam, Penumbra, Philips, Sleep Number, Variowell and more, according to the CTA. Organizers noted that the pandemic has sped up the adoption of health technologies and services. A 2021 CTA study found that since March 2020, 20 percent of U.S. households used online health services for the first time, and 20 percent plan to continue using them in the next year. And 25 percent of U.S. homes now own air purifiers, 23 percent have smart or connected health monitoring devices and 19 percent have connected sports or fitness equipment. (SD-Agencies) | 