A pilot project that will use artificial intelligence, facial recognition and CCTV cameras to track coronavirus patients has raised privacy concerns in South Korea. The project is due to become operational in January in Bucheon, one of South Korea’s most densely populated cities, according to officials. It will scour AI algorithms and facial recognition technology to analyse footage from more than 10,820 CCTV cameras and track an infected person’s movements, their contacts, and whether they were wearing a mask, according to a 110-page business plan from the city submitted to the Ministry of Science and ICT (Information and Communications Technology).

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A Bucheon official said the system would help overworked tracing teams in the city of more than 800,000 people.

South Korea has already been using an aggressive, high-tech contact tracing system that employs credit card records, cellphone location data and CCTV footage, among other personal information.

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In bidding for national funding for the pilot project in late 2020, Bucheon mayor Jang Deog-cheon argued that would take the load off a large number of epidemiological investigators, who often have to work 24-hour shifts, South Korea relies on for tracing and contacting potential coronavirus cases.

The system is also designed to counter sometimes unreliable testimonies of COVID-19 patients regarding their activities and whereabouts, according to the plan provided to news agency Reuters by a parliamentary lawmaker critical of the project.

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The Ministry of Science and ICT said it has no current plans to expand the project to the national level.

South Korea has been facing its worst coronavirus surge in recent weeks since the start of the pandemic, overwhelming hospitals and health care workforce.

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Critics have blamed the rise in infections on the government dramatically easing social distancing rules at the start of November in what officials described as the first step toward restoring pre-pandemic normalcy.