Paris Subway Tests Facial Recognition Software To Identify Passengers Not Wearing Masks

Transport authorities in the French capital of Paris will trial facial recognition software to identify passengers who are not wearing medical masks, the Paris Match magazine reported on Thursday

PARIS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 07th May, 2020) Transport authorities in the French capital of Paris will trial facial recognition software to identify passengers who are not wearing medical masks, the Paris Match magazine reported on Thursday.

According to the magazine, 70 percent of passengers at the capital's Chatelet-Les Halles station, one of the subway system's major interchanges, were wearing masks on Wednesday.

RATP Group and Ile-de-France Mobilities, the transport authorities for Paris and the surrounding region, will begin a three-month experiment to ascertain the proportion of passengers who are traveling without masks.

The current system has six cameras although capacity will be doubled to 12, the newspaper wrote, adding that the software is 99.5 percent accurate.�

From May 11, the wearing of medical masks on public transport will become mandatory in France, as the country attempts to ease the lockdown measures introduced on March 17 to curb the spread of COVID-19. Passengers caught not wearing masks will be fined 135 Euros ($146).

French public health officials confirmed 278 new deaths as a result of the coronavirus disease over the preceding 24 hours on Wednesday, down from 330 the day before.