DRONEII: Drones and the Coronavirus – from Crisis to Opportunity

First and foremost, drones have already proven to be useful tools in curbing the spread of the virus and aiding efforts to contain and battle the COVID-19 disease. There are in fact at least five tangible ways in which drones can and are being used right now:

The most prominent use case for drones in the coronavirus crisis so far have definitely been medical drone deliveries. The Chinese drone delivery operator, Antwork, recently joined efforts to battle the virus by delivering medical supplies. Our recent interview with their COO, Zhao Liang, explains this endeavour further. Medical drone deliveries can be a game changer for efforts to battle the virus not only because they can speed up deliveries of essential supplies and samples, but also because they reduce the exposure of crucial medical staff.

Moreover, medical drone delivery operators – from Antwork in China to Swiss Post with Matternet in Switzerland, Wing and also UPS in the US – are amongst the most commonly authorised drone delivery companies out there. This means that as far as regulations are concerned, especially in the case of the Part 135 certified UPS, medical drone deliveries of test samples, masks, donations and much more could be scaled throughout this year and into 2021 to help hospitals and other public health stakeholders.

In addition to monitoring the streets, authorities are able to further reduce the risk and exposure of police officers and other personnel by using drones to broadcast messages and spread information about procedures. This use case has been seen not only in Europe but further afield in less developed nations, like Mongolia. Given the unprecedented nature of the current public health crisis, broadcasting messages about social distancing and with key information about nearby hospitals is key to helping residents remain informed and participate in the global efforts.

Finally, other than developing a vaccination and slowing down the spread of the virus, governments are also concerned about improving public health infrastructure in order to be able to handle high numbers of patients in need of intensive care. In many countries this has involved adapting large spaces into temporary hospitals and in some cases like China, Germany, Russia and the United States, the building of new emergency hospitals and units to help care for infected patients away from those hospitalised for other reasons and therefore highly vulnerable to COVID-19. Drones frequently used for surveying have a major role to play in helping governments build more efficiently and with minimum human involvement (and thus exposure to the virus).