Wow cool – South Korea has more options to track the movements of people infected with COVID-19. To this end, the country will start a pilot project with artificial intelligence (AI), face recognition and thousands of surveillance cameras.

The project is said to be carried out, although it is controversial as it is feared that it will violate privacy. The project is financed nationwide by Bucheon, one of the most populous cities in the country on the outskirts of the capital Seoul.

A city official said Reuters that the project will go live in January. This system uses not only AI algorithms but also facial recognition technology to analyze the recordings of more than 10,820 security cameras.

The system will help countries track the movements of infected people with whom they have close contact and determine if their citizens are wearing masks. The business plan is 110 pages long and has been submitted to the Ministry of Science and ICT (Information and Communication Technology).

Bucheon officials say the system is expected to ease the burden on overhauled tracking teams in a city of more than 800,000 residents. The new system will also help to deploy teams more efficiently and accurately.

South Korea now already has a high-tech system for contact tracing. The system is able to collect personal information from its citizens, including credit card details, cell phone location data and CCTV recordings.

However, the country still relies on a large number of epidemiological investigators, who often have to work 24-hour shifts. Their job is to track and contact people who have the potential to become infected with the coronavirus.

Of course, South Korea is not the only country turning to new technologies and expanding its legal powers to deal with the wave of COVID-19 infections. There are Russia, China, India, Japan, and not to mention the United States, who have experimented with facial recognition systems in tracking COVID-19 patients, Columbia Law School reports.

(Week / zodiac)