Facial recognition aids COVID-19 fight in 5 impactful ways

^{As the world lies in the throes of global pandemic, facial recognition technology has been pulling the lever in several key areas of our fight against COVID-19. At Pixuate, technology for good is our mantra and over the last few years, we have made major strides in the field of facial recognition. Below, we detail some of the important use-cases of facial recognition in battling the corona scare.}

1. Enabling contactless biometric attendance: Never before was contactless biometric attendance more critical for offices, factories and coworking setups. Given that the virus spreads through touch, biometric attendance modes such as those requiring a fingerprint scan multiply the chances of spread. To avoid touching surfaces which are being touched by other people, facial recognition helps by enabling contactless biometric attendance systems.

2. Identifying potential cases for further testing: Thermal cameras can measure body temperature accurately. They can detect the mildest of fevers and are useful in detecting potential cases of coronavirus to be probed further. Facial recognition and thermal detection software coupled with mobile apps that have GPS tracking features are a huge boon. This, along with drones and helmets installed with thermal sensors and facial recognition software, allow governments to keep track of potentially threatening cases.

3. Enforcing attendance limits: Except when there is a complete lock-down, a lot of companies globally have tried to strike a balance between minimizing the risk of their employees and ensuring that their businesses stay up and running. This is achieved by only having a percentage of their workforce present on any given day. With facial recognition, it becomes a lot easier to ensure that the number of employees is not less/more than the percentage stipulated by their respective policies. Pixuate is already working hand-in-hand with companies and their leadership to resolve their key attendance challenges.

4.Detecting and tracking the infected and the quarantined: Another use case of facial recognition in fighting the coronavirus outbreak is to identify the quarantined and the infected by placing CCTVs at hospital gates and airports. Further, by placing smart cameras powered with facial recognition technology at virus hotspots like malls, clubs and movie halls, authorities can now identify the number of people a potentially infected person might have come in contact with while in public.

5. Ensuring safety adherence in public places: One of the most common sights now is people in masks – they’re everywhere, in grocery stores, in malls, on the road, and so on. Facial recognition technology by Pixuate is already aiding authorities to help ensure that people are wearing masks in places where they must do so – such as testing centres and hospitals. Facial recognition can also be used to check who is wearing a mask at work, if employees are adhering to workplace safety policies by wearing masks. A Chinese company has allegedly developed a facial recognition software that can recognize people even when their masks are on.

Technologies like facial recognition are with us in our fight in these trying times, but they have much more to offer than just that. We at Pixuate are at the forefront of ushering in a safer, smarter and better tomorrow with a potent combination of AI, data analytics, IoT, LPR and facial recognition.

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