By Anoop G Prabhu, co-founder & CTO, Vehant Technologies
The Indian government’s audacious decision of imposing a nationwide lockdown from March 24, 2020, was praised by the World Health Organisation (WHO). It is said that the world should follow India and impose social distancing measures to curb the COVID19 menace. The diligent steps by the government did not stop here, and it took a slew of formidable steps to reduce the epidemic. The lockdown period was extended again, but the contagious nature and reticent patients contributed to the spread of this disease far and wide. Today, India is at the 10th position among the worst-hit countries. The situation can be attributed to lack of identification mechanism during the early stages of the virus in India. Had the initial cases of COVID19 been identified at airports, railway stations and such other places of mass gathering, we could have minimized the spread of this viral infection. Digital surveillance enabled with appropriate technological interventions like AI could have made it possible.
While the nation expected a renewed lockdown period, the possibility of derailing economy prompted the central government to adopt rather less stringent measures. The respite in constraints has further escalated the number of cases reported every day. Popularly christened as Lockdown 4.0, the current regime has relaxed rules and regulations to resume economic activities. Barring educational institutes, malls, and shopping complexes almost all economic activities have been given a go-ahead. The decision on interstate travel by road is subject to mutual agreement between state governments, while limited trains will be operating to ferry stranded migrants and others to their destinations. Domestic flights are set to resume, according to guidelines of the Ministry of Civil Aviation. But the catch here is that the state governments may require a mandatory quarantine for the flyers. The day is not far when metro services and international flights would resume.
The nation has made marked progress in enhancing its testing capacity, and production of personal protection equipment but the scanning framework is not efficient till date. An infrastructure that can help in the identification of possible cases, maintenance of social distancing norms, and the use of masks is still missing. Railway stations, airports and other public places along with private establishments, lack proper surveillance systems, making it impossible for the authorities to identify and isolate probable victims of the pandemic. Febrile systems, also categorised as tele-thermographic systems (or thermal temperature scanner systems) are a must in these circumstances. All the places of mass gatherings should be equipped with instruments that can facilitate detailed scrutiny.
Thermal temperature scanner systems are a notch up from our regular supervision cameras. They detect radiation in the long-infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum and produce images of that radiation called thermograms. The amount of radiation emitted by the target amplifies with the increase in temperature; therefore, thermography assists in identifying variations in temperature. The black body radiation law is at the core of this technology, according to which every object with a temperature above the absolute zero emits infrared radiation. In some countries, these systems have been used at airports to ascertain swine flu patients, and the result was astounding. Identification and isolation of these patients, as well as those they might have infected, became easy. Tele-thermographic systems can be attuned to detect temperature beyond certain degrees, making them suitable for spotting a COVID19 suspect.
The country is blessed to have a start-up ecosystem that has turned this calamity into an opportunity and is coming up with smart solutions. Fiddling with the traditional tele-thermographic systems, they have developed advanced AI-based surveillance units. The supervision equipment not only detects the temperature of the target, rather it ascertains whether the person is wearing masks and is following social distancing norms. AI-based algorithms facilitate the authorities in taking real-time decisions to identify the violators and suspected victims of COVID19.
Government agencies and private players are slowly coming out of the slumber caused by the lockdown and are requisitioning digital surveillance systems. But the lack of a detailed understanding of technological advancements may affect the intended outcome. The central government should collaborate with industry players to ascertain minimum standards for digital surveillance equipment as fever detection is a serious business now.