The UAE has been leading the way on new technologies during the pandemic, and the latest one has just landed.
Abu Dhabi has officially approved use and is beginning to install facial scanners, called EDE scanners, in major areas such as shopping malls, land and entry ports and some residential areas to detect Covid-19.
During the pilot test, 20,000 people were tested with 90 percent sensitivity, according to the Abu Dhabi Media Office.
How does it work? That’s the crazy part. It checks your electromagnetic waves.
Electromagnetic waves “change when the [ribonucleic acid RNA] particles of the virus are present in the person’s body”, the media office reported.
The system was developed in Abu Dhabi too, at the EDE Research Institute Abu Dhabi.
If the scanner detects Covid-19, entry will not be permitted and the person will have to get a PCR test within 24 hours.
“Abu Dhabi has adopted an integrated strategy to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, based on increased testing to ensure safe entry into the emirate, vaccination and the continued implementation of precautionary measures,” Jamal Al Kaabi, undersecretary at the Department of Health in Abu Dhabi.
Dr Al Kaabi added that the scanners will be used alongside other screening methods such as PCR testing, so don’t expect the new scanners to replace all the methods we’ve gotten used to.
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