Shanghai spends billions on population control

After two months of confinement due to a new wave of Covid-19, the approximately 26 million inhabitants of Shanghai have regained their former life. The images show them running to shops and in parks. The city had never experienced such a period of confinement, and the authorities had to manage several attempts at riots and rebellion with numerous arrests.

Today, life has resumed its course, but the strategy of ” zero covid remains fragile. To take transport, you have to show your credentials, and it is not a complete vaccination schedule, but proof of a negative test. Except that not all public places have the human means to control everyone, and we must therefore turn to digital means.

Two million “digital sentinels”

According Everbright Securities, the largest city in China, outside agglomeration, is determined not to experience such a period, and it has released an amount equivalent to 7.5 billion dollars to equip itself with “digital sentinels”. Behind this term hide so-called “intelligent” devices capable of monitoring the temperature, the vaccinations and the results of Covid-19 tests inhabitants.

the South China Morning Post reports that the municipality wants to install up to two million of these devices in public places. If the experiment is conclusive, other cities should imitate Shanghai. Behind this device, there is SenseTime, the largest Chinese company ofartificial intelligence (IA), but also Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology and Zhejiang Dahua Technology, the largest manufacturers of surveillance cameras from the country.

Six monitoring functions

Most of these “digital sentinels” use facial recognition technology to verify and record information about individuals’ vaccinations, tests Covid-19 and their movements recent. These devices will be used to authorize access to public places, and they cost between 2,000 yuan and 10,000 yuan each, or between 280 and 1,200 euros.

” The device has six functions: mask detection, temperature check, health code check, vaccination record check, HIV test checknucleic acid and identity verification, which helps in quick verification for various places and brings convenience to the public”, explains SenseTime on its official website.

China: debauchery of technologies to deal with the coronavirus epidemic

Mobile application that tracks virus carriers, scanner measuring the temperature remotely, drone spraying disinfectant or artificial intelligence to map theepidemic… Chinese tech companies are doing everything they can to fight Covid-19. A debauchery of technologies where the protection of privacy comes well after health.

Posted on 02/17/2020 by Céline Deluzarche

the coronavirus Covid-19 has already infected more than 68,000 people in China and caused more than 1,700 deaths. Exceptional containment measures, compulsory wearing of masks, disinfectants sprayed in the streets, factories shut down… The country is deploying major means to fight the epidemic. But he relies above all on his know-how in matter new technologies: drones, artificial intelligence, robots and big data are used.

An application to track infected people

Are you likely to have been infected with the covid-19 virus ? In China, residents can now download a application which indicates whether you have been in “close contact” with an infected person (for example a relative, a passenger on an airplane or medical personnel). The application, called Close contact detectoris based on the personal data of users who must scan their QR code on the smartphone. In Hong Kong, the surveillance is much stricter: families placed in quarantine must wear a smart bracelet which checks whether people remain confined to their homes. If the bracelet is damaged or disconnected more than 20 meters from the mobile, an alert is immediately sent. According to South China Morning Postviolators of quarantine measures are liable to 6 months in prison and a fine of 4,600 euros.

A remote scanner to detect fever

In the Beijing subway, travelers are scrutinized by a infrared scanner which measures their temperature. Developed by Megvii, a start-up Chinese, ” the system is capable of accurately detecting a body temperature at distances greater than 3 meters and in the midst of heavy passenger traffic, even when the person wear a mask or a hat », assures the company. The passenger is then identified by facial recognition. ” This allows staff to perform contactless checks physical narrow, while reducing potential coronavirus transmission and optimizing passenger flow “. Its competitor Baidu has developed a similar system, capable of detecting the temperature of 200 people per minute, faster than the scanners used in airports.

Robots calling passers-by to order

In the provinces affected by the epidemic, it is better not to venture into the street without wearing the required mask. Small robots equipped with speakers and cameras admonish passers-by who risk going out without a mask, and scan their temperature with a camera infrared. In case of’anomalythe robot sounds an alarm and sends an alert to the police, reports the GlobalTimes. The robots thus patrol airports, shopping centers and large public squares. In several large cities, drones fly over the main roads and invite motorists to scan a QR code to provide their health data to the authorities.

Drones to disinfect the streets and bring medicine

” Keep your Windows closed and stay home “, chants the drone passing over the buildings, spraying the streets with disinfectant. A drone loaded with 10 liters of disinfectant can spray an area of ​​around 8,000 square meters, according to the China Internet Information Center (China.org). In several villages, drones designed to spread pesticides on the fields have been converted for the disinfection of the streets. Others undertake to carry out drug deliveries or masks for people confined to their homes. In Nanjing, while human delivery people are prohibited from entering buildings to avoid contamination, these are robots on wheels that take care of deliveries to residents. ” The robot has an autonomy of 10 hours and can even take elevators ”, reports China.org.

Artificial intelligence to fight the virus

China is making massive use of its know-how in artificial intelligence (AI) to fight the new Covid-19 virus. Baidu, the Chinese search engine giant, has thus made its computing capacities available to scientists for the study of the virus. According to the company, its algorithm multiplies by 20 the sequencing speed. Several research teams are also working on an AI capable of mapping and predicting the spread of the virus. Tencent and Baidu provided their user data to model how the virus may have left Wuhan in the days following its appearance. Other algorithms scan the social networks, media reports and official health data to determine where the virus is most likely to spread. For its part, the Chinese start-up iFlytek has developed an algorithm to identify the patients most at risk according to their age, place of residence or medical condition.