When drones took over sanitation workers to spray disinfectant
In an attempt to curb the spread of coronavirus, Bengaluru’s local civic body is using drones to spray disinfectants and sanitize public places.
Drones were used at Victoria hospital, KC hospital and in Malleswaram and Shivaji Nagar bus stops today (March 30) said a tweet by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagar Pallike commissioner B.H. Anil Kumar.
BBMP is using drones to spray disinfectants across the city. Today, drones were used at Victoria Hospital, KC General Hospital, Malleswaram & Shivajinagar @BMTC_BENGALURU Bus Station.#StayAtHomeAndStaySafe #BreakTheChain @CMofKarnataka @DHFWKA @sriramulubjp @mla_sudhakar #BBMP pic.twitter.com/Vcjwgesj5s
— B.H.Anil Kumar,IAS (@BBMPCOMM) March 29, 2020
BBMP took up a massive sanitation drive starting Tuesday to disinfect areas where positive cases have been reported. The spraying of sodium hypochlorite solution manually and in tractors began in central parts of Bengaluru especially around Krishna Rajendra Market area which was flagged off mayor M. Goutham Kumar. He said that the aim of the sanitization drive was to contain the spread of virus in all 198 wards.
At a time when technology is being put to its best use like robot nurses in hospitals, drone sanitization method is being used in various other states in the country.
On March 26, the Greater Chennai Corporation tested drones to spray disinfectant devised by students of Anna University. The testing was done at its headquarters, the Ripon building. Corporation commissioner G. Prakash said that the drones would be used to spray disinfectants in crowded areas like markets and localities like slums to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Each drone was said to have the capacity to spray disinfectant over 50,000-square foot area.
In addition to this Garuda Aerospace, a four-year-old Chennai based startup is also working along with the Tamil Nadu government in providing their drone technology to reduce the risk of sanitation workers getting exposed to the virus. Agnishwar Jayaprakash, Managing Director of the startup said that currently 300 drones are deployed to spray disinfectants across Tamil Nadu. “We have been approached by states like Kerala, Karnataka, Odisha, Chattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh,” he said.
It is not just India, other countries like China and South Korea too are using drones in various ways in their fight to tackle the deadly COVID-19 outbreak.