Authorities in South Korea are set to use the country’s facial recognition camera network to track people with COVID in real time and ensure they are wearing face masks.
The system will first be tested in Bucheon, on the outskirts of Seoul, in January before being extended to other areas of the country.
The scheme uses artificial intelligence and facial recognition software linked to the city’s 10,820 security cameras “to track the movements of active cases and their close contacts, and to determine whether they wore a mask,” reports RT.
One official said the system was needed to reduce the workload on the team tasked with tracking COVID cases in the city by relying on information such as records of card purchases and cellphone location data.
“Using facial recognition technology will enable that analysis in an instant,” said Bucheon Mayor Jang Deog-cheon, adding that it reduces the burden on workers having to spend “hours analyzing a single [segment of] CCTV footage.”
South Korea will soon roll out a pilot project to use artificial intelligence, facial recognition and thousands of CCTV cameras to track the movement of people infected with the coronavirus, despite concerns about the invasion of privacy https://t.co/Q5YoDnyoF4
The system also eliminates the problem of citizens who get infected with COVID but “who aren’t always truthful about their activities and whereabouts,” reported Reuters.
Park Dae-chul, a lawmaker from the main opposition People Power Party. called the plan a “neo-totalitarian idea.”
“It is absolutely wrong to monitor and control the public via CCTV using taxpayers’ money and without the consent from the public,” said Park.
China, India, Japan, Poland, Russia, and multiple US states are also exploring similar ways to keep track of the movements of people infected with COVID.
Such technology is of course wide open to abuse, erases any kind of expectation of privacy and is something that George Orwell would have laughed off as inconceivable.
The CDC is now investigating 180 cases of children with hepatitis of an “unknown cause,” although health experts in the UK say the cause is likely kids having weakened immune systems due to lockdown.
Five deaths have occurred in the U.S. as a result of the infections, which have swept the globe, impacting numerous countries.
“Adenovirus infection is being investigated as being the possible cause, with nearly half the kids testing positive for the pathogen,” reports CNBC. “Adenovirus is a common virus that normally causes cold or flu-like symptoms. It is not a known cause of hepatitis in otherwise healthy children.”
As we highlighted last month, health experts in the UK warned that the outbreak was likely caused by multiple COVID-19 lockdowns preventing kids from socializing with others and therefore developing strong immune systems.
Adenoviruses cause the common cold, but this can develop into hepatitis if a weakened immune system is unable to fight it off.
“I think it is likely that children mixing in kindergartens and schools have lower immunity to seasonal adenoviruses than in previous years because of restrictions,” said Professor Simon Taylor-Robinson.
“This means they could be more at risk of developing hepatitis because their immune response is weaker to the virus,” he added.
Nowhere in the mainstream reporting of this new surge in cases is it mentioned that multiple lockdowns could have caused the outbreak
Instead, the CDC is still “conducting lab tests to see if the Covid virus might also be a possible cause,” despite the fact that the children impacted in the initial cluster of cases in Alabama did not have COVID-19.
The legacy media is loathe to admit that the same lockdowns they vehemently supported will have drastic consequences for years to come.
As we previously highlighted, a new study published in the Royal Society Open Science journal found that lockdowns in the UK caused around 60,000 children to suffer clinical depression.
A major study by Johns Hopkins University concluded that global lockdowns have had a much more detrimental impact on society than they have produced any benefit, with researchers urging that they “are ill-founded and should be rejected as a pandemic policy instrument.”
Many infants are also suffering from cognitive developmental and speech disorders due to adults wearing face coverings during the pandemic.
Illustrating how the issue has largely disappeared, a new poll of Americans finds COVID to be the least of their concerns out of a list of 12 different subjects.
The survey was conducted by Pew Research between April 25-May 1.
Just 19 per cent of respondents said COVID was still a “very big problem,” while 31 per cent said it was a “small problem” and a further 12 per cent said it was “not a problem at all.”
In comparison, 70 per cent of Americans said inflation was a “very big problem,” with a further 23 per cent describing it as a “moderately big problem.”
Here's the latest pew research on the top 12 things Americans are concerned about. Funny, I don't see Ukraine anywhere on that list. pic.twitter.com/uqCYyKu2nU
Ten other issues, including violent crime, illegal immigration and the condition of infrastructure, all rank above COVID-19 in terms of being more of a concern.
As one commentator observed, the war in Ukraine appears nowhere on the list, although Pew chose not to include it as an option.
“Democrats are nearly four times as likely as Republicans to rate climate change as a very big problem (63% vs. 16%),” reports Pew. “Republicans, by contrast, are far more likely than Democrats to view illegal immigration as a very big problem (65% vs. 19%).”
Despite the pandemic virtually being over, numerous states are still enforcing indoor mask mandates and other COVID restrictions that refuse to die.
As we highlighted yesterday, Broadway star Patti LuPone launched an angry rant at an audience member for not wearing a mask properly during a Q&A session despite the fact that she wasn’t wearing one inside the theater.