Photo Credit: Herney Gómez from Pixabay
Drone technology is used in certain parts of China to warn citizens about the coronavirus.
Use of Drones
Chinese officials are using drones, especially in rural parts of China, to talk to citizens. The drones convey the urgency of not spreading the virus and staying away from it.
Messages
The messages conveyed by the drones are not pre-recorded but live audio transmission. Officials will look at the live camera footage and respond immediately.
Some messages are short and informative while others can be daunting.
Here are examples of some of the messages:
Put your masks on, hurry up!
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or
You shouldn’t walk around without wearing a mask
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or something more serious like
Playing mahjong outside is banned during the epidemic. You have been spotted. Stop playing and leave the site as soon as possible
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or
You’d better go back home and don’t forget to wash your hands … we’ve been telling people to stay at home, but you still wander outside
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and
Don’t look at the drone, child; ask your father to leave immediately
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or guilt-tripping some citizens by saying
Staying at home is contributing to society
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Have a look at this video showing how the policing method works
Industrial Drones
Some drones originally designed to spray pesticide on farms are now being used to spray disinfectant on large parts of cities and villages.
The drones are used specifically in hard to reach locations such as gardens, roofs and skyscrapers. Some of these drones can disinfect areas of up to 16,000 square meters in one morning.
The disinfectant is nontoxic and won’t have any effect on humans.
Even though not knowing how effective this method will be against the virus, Chinese officials want to make sure they do everything they can to stop further spreading of this deadly virus.
Closing
While some tech like Apple is under pressure because of factory closures, others are assisting to bring the spreading of the virus under control.
