Coronavirus: Italy, Holland test China's temperature-scanning helmets - Business Insider

A law enforcement officer wearing the helmet could do any of the following: Measure the temperature of a specific individual; measure the temperatures of people passing by in larger crowds; scan a person's QR code for personal data; recognize license plates; spot people in the dark; or recognize people using facial recognition.Any information captured is stored on the helmet itself, the company says.According to KC Wearable's global chief, Dr Jie Guo, more than 1,000 helmets are already in use across China. "In many places, they use fixed infrared cameras, but our helmets can be used with higher flexibility, adaptability — it can be worn or put on a tripod."If a helmet on temperature-scanning mode detects someone nearby with a fever, an alarm goes off."It gives a warning to the user directly," said Dr Guo. Experts are skeptical about how helpful temperature scanning will be.Professor Davey Jones of Bangor University, who led a research project into the spread of COVID-19, pointed to the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which fumbled its response as the coronavirus spread through the vessel, infecting around 700 people and killing eight."At least 25% of the [ship's] population had no symptoms whatsoever, so clearly they're not running a temperature," he said. That compares to the smart helmet's infrared camera resolution of 384 x 288.Such devices, he argued, can be useful at airports, supermarkets,  or even at entrances to doctors' surgeries, as long as they use a high-resolution camera.The idea has been mooted before, Dr Wright said, pointing to airports using thermal scanning during the SARS outbreak in Asia, but there are questions over how effective that was.A study published by Eurosurveillance in February concluded: "Airport screening is unlikely to detect a sufficient proportion of 2019-nCoV [coronavirus] infected travelers to avoid entry of infected travelers.""It will identify some high-temperature cases but sensitivity will be poor," Dr Wright cautioned.There are also questions about who should be wearing these helmets, and what they should do once an alarm is triggered.Dr Wright continued: "Clearly as a policeman, distance is a problem if you need to arrest someone, but never do without wearing a mask and gloves.