Facial recognition tech linked to personal health codes has been rolled out in a Chinese city bordering Myanmar as authorities seek to squash a coronavirus outbreak.

Surveillance has been widely used to combat Covid-19 in China, which was the first country to adopt a QR code system to log test results and track contacts, AFP reports.

But this is the first publicly reported instance of facial recognition being used to track a person's movements and health status as they enter and exit residential areas, supermarkets, transport hubs and other public places.

“Everyone who comes in and out needs to have their (health) code and face scanned to pass,” officials in Ruili, in Yunnan province, told reporters on Saturday.