Contactless Technology Spikes in Demand Amid Coronavirus

Coronavirus outbreak has trembled the world with global cases reaching 182,742 with death toll crossing 7,174. This outbreak has affected the world catastrophically. Scientists have galvanized in order to find a vaccine against this virus, and a lot of funding is being raised in this regard. This has proven to be a life-threatening virus, and with more deaths with every passing day, it's safe to say chaos is being created all across the globe. 

The Coronavirus outbreak is expected to cut the global economy by half. Flights to and from many countries are banned to avoid this viral spread. Various technologies are being deployed for employee attendance, passenger’s verification or boarding at the airports, contactless ID verification in the form of facial recognition to ensure security from fraud as well as from coronavirus simultaneously. 

Following are some of the technologies being deployed to provide security while restricting the spread of this deadly virus:

Biometric fingerprint scanning used in immigration checkpoints at airports, offices, buildings, hospitals are the carriers of coronavirus and many people come in direct contact with them. Coronavirus is spread across 150 countries across the globe affecting more than 183,000 patients. The flights and business operations are grounded in fear of the spread of this virus. Fingerprint scanners carry different germs on them including viruses and bacteria. These scanners are considered contaminated and any direct physical contact with such scanners can transfer the virus to healthy ones becoming a reason for the widespread virus. Therefore contactless biometric systems are required for identification for security purposes as well as to stop the spread. ID verification at airports using contactless biometrics instead of fingerprint scanning can be very helpful. Facial recognition technology is a contactless form of biometric and verifies a person just like taking a selfie without coming in physical contact with any scanner or device. Contactless Palm recognition and palm vein features by generating image acquisition can also be used for identification purposes. Less-constrained biometric systems are of high interest for implementation at public places to identify people from a greater distance. 

Advanced facial recognition technology is being used which helps to identify and verify the faces of people donning face masks at public squares. With high efficiency and precision rate, this technology is able to identify the faces of people wearing masks. This technology is used for many purposes including traveler’s ID verification during onboarding, attendance of staff, and even recognizing people not wearing masks as a preventive measure.  Facial recognition technology can help ensure security from fraud as well as from coronavirus simultaneously as no human interaction is required by deploying this technology. 

To simplify and streamline the baggage check-in process touch-less bag drop is deployed at London Luton Airport. In this, passengers use their reference number to print a boarding card or to weigh their luggage and print a tag. Once the luggage is tagged, it is taken to the self-service kiosk to automatically dispatch the luggage. Such a system is already in use at several airports around the world. This contactless technology has won praise from customers and staff for enhancing passenger’s experience and restricting the spread of the virus.  

Whether you are a business providing digital services to customers, running e-stores, any online business having the facility of online transactions is a must as cash is now the declared source of spreading COVID-19. The major responsibility is on digital banks, financial institutions, and e-commerce sites. First Canadian bank has recently introduced digital identity verification into their systems. So digital transactions are a must in this pandemic.

Drones are being used to supply safety equipment and medicines to suspected people. By this technology no direct contact takes place between humans and the spread of this virus can be stopped. As this deadly disease is highly contagious, so to minimize human interactions robot nurses are being used in hospitals to provide necessary things to patients and also to disinfect the areas. 

               COVID-19 has created several challenges for the world as it is reaching every corner of the world. Preventive measures need to be taken to stop its spread. Technology is helping to fight back coronavirus in many ways. But the challenge of incorporating the coronavirus spread that happens because of contamination is that scanners at airports can be handled using contactless technologies to identify and ease people without spreading coronavirus. This is the time to adopt innovative touchless technologies for airports.