A Newcastle tech firm has written to the Government offering the use of one of its products during the roll-out of the coronavirus vaccine.
Gary Trotter, CEO of Ocucon, has offered Health Secretary Matt Hancock access to the company’s Occupi system to help manage the number of people receiving the vaccine.
Occupi uses camera technology to count the number of people entering and exiting a building. Ocucon’s technology then connects with automatic doors and uses a traffic system to allow access into a building or area.
Mr Trotter believes Occupi could prove useful in managing the large number of people receiving the coronavirus vaccine. He is offering Ministers an at-cost trial of the system at either a mass vaccination or rapid testing centre.
In his letter to the Health Secretary, Mr Trotter said: “First may I wish you all the best for the efforts of you and your team in tackling this terrible Covid-19 pandemic in the UK. I hope that the roll out of mass vaccinations and rapid testing will have the desired effect in controlling and eradicating this terrible virus.
“It is with that in mind that I am writing to you. Our system can identify how many people are in a designated area and then manages admissions through a simple traffic light methodology. It is significantly more accurate than simply counting people in and out and reduces the need for security staff at the doors.”
He added: “We believe that Occupi could be used to more efficiently manage access to vaccination and testing centres, and therefore we are offering to set up an at cost demonstration of the system at a site of your choosing.”
Occupi was originally developed for supermarket chain Aldi and has appeared on the company’s recent TV advert. The product recently won the best coronavirus innovation at the Retail Technology Innovation Hub awards.
Commenting on the potential of the product during the vaccine roll-out, Mr Trotter said: “We’ve demonstrated how well Occupi works at busy supermarkets, so we believe that, with the large volumes of people accessing mass vaccination or rapid testing centres, our system could be a big help,
“As a company based near the centre of Newcastle, we’ve seen how this virus has destroyed lives and livelihoods, so we are keen to help in the effort to return to some semblance of normal.”
