The government aims to put a facial recognition system into practical use to prevent new coronavirus infections at large-scale events including the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, it was learned Friday. The government also hopes to improve the national capacity to conduct saliva-based polymerase chain reaction tests to simultaneously detect cases of influenza and novel coronavirus infection, informed sources said. The proposals are included in a draft program for developing new technologies for preventing coronavirus infection. The government will unveil the program shortly and carry out demonstration tests at relevant ministries and agencies. According to the draft, the government is looking at using security cameras equipped with a facial recognition system to record the movements of visitors to the Tokyo Games, which were postponed to 2021, and other large-scale events, the sources said.

The government is considering having hospitals introduce a facial recognition system to identify patients using My Number tax and social security identification cards as health insurance cards, sources have said. The move is designed to help prevent the fraudulent use of My Number cards and promote the spread of online procedures for public services. The use of My Number cards as health insurance cards at hospitals will become possible as early as March 2021 as the Diet passed related legislation last month. But such use is raising concerns among hospitals about potential problems that could arise if hospital staff accept My Number cards from patients for identification purposes. The government is considering having patients themselves take care of the identification procedures for the cards. Some companies, including NEC Corp. and Panasonic Corp., already sell facial recognition systems.