Drones Vs Covid 19 – Around the World

Drones are being used in a variety of ways around the world in face of the current pandemic – mainly to inform, enforce restrictions and to sanitise. Rather than dozens of individual posts, we’re collated some highlights into this one mega-post to hopefully make it all more easily digestible…

UK

‘You Must Stay at Home’: Council uses Drones to Warn Public

Neath Port Talbot Council

 in Wales has introduced the drones over concerns about residents not following health advice to stay at home except for essential trips, such as buying food and medicine.

In a video shared on the council’s Facebook page, the drone can be heard saying:

“This is a message from Neath Port Talbot Council. Please follow the government rules at this time. You must stay home.”

Peak District Drone Police Practice ‘Lockdown Shaming’

https://youtu.be/nE9Lh-wnzec

Derbyshire Police filmed people in pairs rambling in the Curbar Edge area of the beauty spot. Officers said travelling to remote areas for exercise did not count as “essential travel” as permitted under government lockdown rules.

It said “the message is still not getting through” about stopping the spread of coronavirus, despite government guidance and several police posts. In a series of tweets, the force said some cars parked in the area were registered in Sheffield, suggesting people had travelled to Derbyshire and ignored government advice to exercise close to home.

FRANCE

French Police Deploy Drones to Enforce Coronavirus Restrictions

Police in Nice have already deployed drones to accompany police and serve as warning loudspeakers to enforce the coronavirus lockdown.

“A reminder of the instructions relating to the Covid-19 epidemic: all travel outside the home is prohibited unless exempted. Please respect a safety distance of at least one meter between each person,” says the drone repeatedly, piloted by the company Drone06, owned by former police officer Sabri ben Hassen.

The police drone packs a punch: the speaker delivers the power of 100 decibels, says ben Hassen.

“By comparison, an Airbus taking off produces 120 decibels,” he adds.

SPAIN

Madrid Municipal Police use Drone with Loudspeaker

https://youtu.be/UPDqIzIpqew

The Madrid Municipal Police posted a video on Twitter showing a quadcopter in the sky fitted with a loudspeaker telling people who were on the street to return home if they weren’t supposed to be out.

A message posted with the video said (translated): “We will not hesitate to use all the means at our disposal to ensure your security and that of everyone, although some still make it difficult for us …”

ITALY

Italy Approves Use of Drones to Monitor Social Distancing

The Italian Civil Aviation Authority (ENAC) confirmed their approval to use drones to monitor the movements of citizens during the coronavirus pandemic after receiving requests for additional support from “many local police units”.

The authorisation for the use of drones will last until 3 April, when the travel restrictions in Italy will theoretically be lifted. ENAC say they can be used in “urban areas” or “where there are small populations exposed to the risk of impact“.

But there will be restrictions on the use of drones near civilian airports, and the 25 kilogram weight of drones that can be used.

Several regions of Italy, including Emilia-Romagna and Lombardy, are already using drones and other equipment to help enforce quarantine restrictions.

Italian Mayor Wants Drones to Swear at People Breaching Stay Home Rules

In A Facebook Video Town Mayor of Messina in Sicily says he can not wait for drones to be flying everywhere.

He says the drones will broadcast his voice that will say ‘where the f*** are you going? Go back home! Italy’s outbreak is concentrated in the north but there is concern that contagion cases could escalate in southern regions like Sicily if people do not respect social distancing.

UAE

Sharjah Police Use Drones to Urge People to Stay Home

https://youtu.be/gX9f1YnXSUk

Sharjah Police are using drones to relay officers’ instructions to residents to stay home and avoid stepping out unless absolutely necessary.

The messages in Arabic, English and Urdu urged people to avoid doing anything that jeopardises their life and public health. The police asked the residents to stay home, avoid crowded places and protect themselves and their families.

“You are important, you are part of a society that wants you to have a healthy and safe life. The message for today is to stay home,” the public address said.

INDIA

Drones Used in Different Cities to Disinfect Coronavirus Across India

Drones are being used in different cities to disinfect Coronavirus across India. The Covid-19 pandemic is pushing the Government bodies to take extreme measures to stop spreading of the deadly virus.

The Karnataka Government has decided to deploy drones in Bengaluru district to sanitize the streets in most areas. The disinfectants will be sprayed using drones to sanitise public spaces to sanitize the area faster and safer.

Drone manufacturer Garuda Aerospace is sending eight drones and eight drone pilots by road from Chennai to Raipur.

Raipur’s Municipal Commissioner Saurabh Kumar said the city will begin work in areas that have reported confirmed cases. “Israel and Singapore are also doing this. Drones are able to reach places where manually we cannot — such as slums,” Kumar said.

“We are also planning to use it for public announcements related to coronavirus,” he said.

The liquid solution will be of water, hydrogen peroxide, and silver nitrate — a WHO-approved sanitisation combination, Kumar said. He said the city police have used drones for the last one-and-a-half years for law and order observation and crowd control.

“Ground-level workers are optimal carriers for the virus and are susceptible to getting infected, unlike drones,” Garuda founder Agnishwar Jayaprakash said. “Four lakh Indians are doing this job across the country. We have machines that can do what manual public labourers are doing. Why not use it?”

Tamil Nadu’s Health Department has labeled its sanitisation programme “Surgical Strike on Coronavirus.” According to a release, the project consists of 300 drones and 500 pilots to sanitise hospitals, metros, and roads across the state.

In Indore, Municipal Commissioner Ameesh Singh hired two drones from an agricultural company more than a week ago. Each drone can carry 60 litres for a 30-minute flight covering up to 5 acres. Singh said they attempted to cover the whole city, but now have narrowed focus on three localities where 13 COVID-19 cases have been found.

“I saw a video of farmers using drones and asked my local officials whether we can re-purpose it for this. With wind, we can cover almost the entire city in a day with two drones,” Singh said.

The solution is a combination of sodium hypochlorite, cresol powder, and a bio-sanitiser called Biokleen.

In Karnataka, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) also expanded their sanitisation drive in the city to include the new technology two days ago, mayor M Goutham Kumar told The Sunday Express. They have seven drones and are focusing on hospital buildings and premises.

“The advantage in aerial spraying is it sanitises the entire area, including tops of buildings. But the disadvantage is that they don’t have a great carrying capacity. They can each carry roughly 13 to 15 litres,” Goutham Kumar said.

Kerala Lockdown…

The Thiruvananthapuram district police conducted surveillance of those flouting lockdown norms using drones. The initiative started in Poonthura. The Kerala police have so far registered more than 7,000 cases in the state against those who hit the streets on vehicles without valid reasons….

DUBAI

Dubai Police using Drones to Keep Public Spaces Ban Enforced

Dubai Police are using drones to ensure members of the public are avoiding the emirate’s beaches and other public spaces.

Colonel Saeed Al Madhani, director of Ports Police Station in Dubai, said:

“Our drones are equipped with cameras that can photograph events in range, whether during the day or night. They can also carry loudspeakers to broadcast Dubai Police messages and announcements to the public.”

Daily drone patrols are usually carried out by the Ports Police Station through the ‘Nawras’ (seagull) project, which is operated between the drone centre in Dubai Police.

Dubai Municipality Conducts Massive National Disinfection Programme with Drones.

MALAYSIA

Drones to be Used to Monitor 12 Hot Spots

Drones will be deployed to various locations, especially at 12 hot spots, during the movement control order (MCO) period. The drones feature voice recordings in Malay, Mandarin and Tamil to remind people to comply with the MCO.

Armed Forces chief Jen Tan Sri Affendi Buang, who announced this, said while the drones could not cover the whole country, they would focus on the 12 hot spot areas.

“We will also target locations where people are still stubborn. We hope the use of the drones can enable a more efficient patrol and monitoring of the people during the MCO,” he told reporters after attending a demonstration of the drone capabilities at the Brickfields district police headquarters.

While not disclosing the exact number of the drones, Jen Affendi said some were government assets while some were lent by the local industry.

CALIFORNIA

Police in California City Use Drones During Coronavirus Outbreak

The Chula Vista Police Department, located just south of San Diego near the California-Mexico border, recently purchased two $11,000 drones — doubling its fleet —  that will be outfitted with speakers and night vision cameras.

“We have not traditionally mounted speakers to our drones, but …  if we need to cover a large area to get an announcement out, or if there were a crowd somewhere that we needed to disperse — we could do it without getting police officers involved,” said Capt. Vern Sallee.

Photos: Chula Vista Police Department; Jennifer Lorenzini/LaPresse;PTI;

Sources: FOX News; euronews; Khaleej Times; DriveSpark; Arabian Business; The Star; BFM TV; rfi; Gulf News; manorama; fijivillage; yahoo! news; Independent; twitter; France 24

[Not to forget the first post on the subject back in February – Ed.]

‘Drones Enforce Coronavirus Face Mask Law in China‘