Bucheon, a town just outside of Seoul, South Korea will begin testing the use of facial recognition in tracking cases of COVID-19 beginning in January, 2022. While some are concerned about privacy issues, the project is going forward and will use artificial intelligence, facial recognition and thousands of CCTV cameras to track the movement of people infected with the coronavirus.
The program plans to track “an infected person’s movements, anyone they had close contact with, and whether they were wearing a mask,” according to a 110-page business plan from the city submitted to the Ministry of Science and ICT (Information and Communications Technology) and provided to the media outlet Reuters.
Bucheon mayor Jang Deog-cheon tweeted, “It sometimes takes hours to analyze a single CCTV footage. Using visual recognition technology will enable that analysis in an instant.”