Face Mask Detection in Real‐Time Video Stream Using Deep Learning
Alok Negi, Krishan Kumar · 2021
On 11 March 2020, World Health Organization (WHO) recorded the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak and reiterated the call for countries to take decisive action and scale up their response to treat, identify, and minimize transmission in order to save the lives of people. Healthcare organizations have an immediate need for decision-making strategies to deal with this virus and to assist them in having proper real-time suggestions to prevent its spread. With the continuing pandemic, in order to reduce risk, it is much more important to have advanced analytics apps and services in place. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is an emerging technology that is successful in combating the pandemic of COVID-19. AI is used as a weapon to help the fight against the viral pandemic that has been impacting the planet since the start of 2020. This technology helps to screen, monitor, and forecast current and potential patients properly. Mostly with assistance of real-time data processing, AI will provide up-to-date information to help in prevention of this disease. During this crisis, it is being used to monitor possible transmission sites, the proliferation of virus, and need for rooms and medical services. WHO studies indicate that respiratory droplets and physical contact are the two primary transmission routes of the COVID-19 virus. Respiratory tiny particles are formed while an infected person is coughing or sneezing. Particles can indeed fall on surfaces in which virus can remain alive, so the infected person's immediate environment can constitute a source of contact transmission. One of the preventive measures that can restrict the spread of such respiratory viral diseases like COVID-19 is wearing a medical face mask. For public safety and hygiene, the use of face masks and covers to monitor the spread of COVID-19 is recommended by the authorities. In this chapter, we propose an advanced Deep Learning model for face mask detection in real-time video streams. The study analyses a series of video stream/images to recognize individuals who comply with the regulation of wearing medical masks by the government. This could allow the government to take sufficient action against non-compliant persons.