Drones are being used for various tasks in helping fight against COVID-19. Read on to know more…
India has remained under lockdown since March 25 to contain the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus, which has so far infected 10,815 people and claimed 353 lives in the country. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the lockdown, which was originally for 21 days, will be extended by 19 days to May 3 as the measure has produced a significant outcome in containing the infection.
With India under the lockdown process to contain the spread of deadly coronavirus, drones are proving to be a crucial tool in the functioning of law enforcement authorities and other government agencies which are deploying these unmanned aerial vehicles for surveillance to ensure that people are maintaining social distancing, spreading awareness about COVID-19 in densely populated areas, spraying disinfectants and checking people’s temperature, minimising the risk of infection for their personnel and reaching out to people.
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Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones, are becoming vital tools in the fight against Covid-19 across states with law enforcement agencies. To combat Coronavirus, drones are used to monitor fever in large gatherings using thermal images besides keeping a hawk’s eye over crowded places.
These following are a few examples of UAVs being used in the fight against coronavirus
While the Gujarat Police is using 200 drones across the state to monitor people’s movements, the Delhi Police has deployed them to ensure people follow social distancing in Asia’s largest fruit and vegetable wholesale market Azadpur Mandi. Municipal authorities in Madurai are utilising them to disinfect areas near the coronavirus wing of a city hospital.
However, government agencies aren’t the only ones to tap into technology in these tough times, media organisations are also using drones to show people confined indoors the impact of the world’s biggest lockdown. During the initial days of the lockdown, drones were used by the Jammu and Kashmir administration to announce restrictions on movement of people in Srinagar’s busy Lal Chowk. The municipal corporation of Warangal in Telangana has collaborated with a private company, Binford Robotics, to deploy its UAVs for surveillance and spraying disinfectants in the city.
Bihar lifted lockdown partially in areas which have reported zero novel coronavirus cases. To increase surveillance of how lockdown is being followed, the government has deployed drones in some districts. The Bihar state government has deployed as many as eight drones in the state capital Patna alone and the air traffic control personnel of the Patna airport are assisting the civil administration to monitor the movement of drones. Each of the drones is fitted with revolving cameras and the pictures taken with the attached lenses are uploaded to the district control room. It will then be shared with the respective police stations should any lockdown violation is caught on the tape.
For media organisations too drones are proving to be a boon at a time when many parts of the country have been sealed and are out of bounds for outsiders. Remote-controlled UAVs allow media organisations to shoot videos or click photographs and cover various aspects of the lockdown. However, government sources said that media organisations also make sure that while recording a video, the drone does not enter any restricted areas like an airport’s airspace, etc.
