Belgian ‘fever scanner’ spreads with corona

As various companies are starting to suffer from the corona outbreak, a Flemish safety equipment specialist is profiting significantly, as is reported by several Belgian media. Avalasia from Menen has sold dozens of ‘fever scanners’, each valued at 25,000 euros. The scanners can be used to detect the body temperature of people in large crowds, for example in airports or train stations. According to CEO Nico Ramacker, Avalasia is flooded with questions. He stated they received over a hundred requests from countries like Spain and Portugal, but also from North Africa and the Middle East.

The scanner includes a heat vision camera and a visual scan, with which it can measure body temperature at the sides of the nose with 0.05 degrees Celsius accuracy. It can scan up to 3,000 people per hour and, for privacy reasons, can be set so that images aren’t saved. Attached to a stand, the device beats handheld devices, which need to be adjusted manually and cannot reach the same accuracy. The hardware is bought from China and Avalasia developed all the software.

As the scanner only measures temperature, people would still have to be tested by a medical professional to know if they’re really infected with corona. The device was originally presented last November during a fair for police and military equipment in Paris. Its original purpose was to single out possible terrorist threats, since nervousness causes a slight rise in body temperature.