2020 The Year Of RAP, page-436

I'm not a tech head, but my thoughts are along the lines of...
Passenger 'x' in seat 23A has recorded coughing sounds over the last five hours, consistent with the symptoms of a ABCvirus. This information is passed electronically to the authorities in a destination port and they follow it up.
No, not asking everyone to cough 5 times into a headrest, but moreover, have passengers monitored during a flight. Kind of like pedestrians being monitored by CCTV in a mall, but monitored for cough sounds instead.
(But... I suppose the PC police will have something to say about everyones privacy being invaded etc etc!!!)