AI Firms Deploy Fever Detection Tech to Help Combat Coronavirus

Beijing’s AI heavyweights are leading the city’s latest move against the Coronavirus outbreak.

According to the SCMP, Megvii and Baidu have rolled out advanced remote fever detection systems in major railway stations in the city, including Qinghe station and Mudanyuan subway station.

Beijing began measuring temperatures at subway stations last Friday, using traditional methods such as scanners and handheld thermometers. Baidu and Megvii however, stepped in after Zhongguancun Science City, the innovation parks administrator, called for better temperature monitoring in the city.

Megvii’s image-based remote fever detection system can reportedly measure temperatures of people up to five meters away. It was designed to work through hats and masks and screen up to 15 people per second.

It can also find a feverish person from a crowd and send an alert, all the while needing just one person to man it.

Baidu’s system meanwhile can take the temperature of masked people while on the move, “with a margin of error within 0.05 degrees Celsius.”

The need to upgrade Beijing’s temperature monitoring systems comes as Novel Coronavirus deaths in the mainland climbed to 563. The number of infected also rose to 28,076, while those that have recovered reached 1,208, globally.

Photo: Scorewith German