In December of 2019, the first reports of a new illness effecting people in China began to raise a lot of concerns. The coronavirus was quickly spreading through Wuhan, the capital and largest city of central China’s Hubei province. People were developing upper respiratory pneumonia like symptoms. Not only could doctors find no reason why their patients were coming down with these symptoms, typical treatments were not providing any relief. Within weeks, the number of cases had climbed into the thousands. While the recovery rate has increased over the last few days, this epidemic has already claimed the lives of more people in China than the SARS outbreak in 2003. The numbers continue to fluctuate, but as of now there have been 361 deaths in China and in the United States of America 11 reported cases of individual infected with the coronavirus.

Doctors and scientists are working around the clock to find ways of treating the virus. Some doctors have found some treatment success, though more research is still needed with the hope of creating a vaccine and reliable treatment plan. In the meantime citizens of the world are being reminded to practice good hygiene and avoid traveling to areas known to be harboring the disease. Throughout China especially these recommendations are in effect as citizens are urged to stay indoors as much as possible, wash hands repeatedly, avoid high risk areas, and wear protective masks when venturing outside. To enforce these health regulations, the Chinese government has turned to drones for assistance.

Police and health officials have taken to flying drones over both minimally populated villages and crowded town centers to monitor people’s activities. The drones have live feed cameras on them that the operator can use to see if someone is not complying to the health safety recommendations. When the operator spies someone not wearing a mask, they can speak to that person through a speaker on the drone, scolding them to better protect themselves. Videos of these interactions are popping up all over showing that China is taking the situation seriously, but finding a way to keep their people conscientious of their health in a light hearted manner. In one of these videos a drone spots an elderly woman walking alone more than 1,000 miles from the outbreak epicenter in the northern province of Inner Mongolia. The drone hovers before her as a male operator begins speaking to her through the speaker. He says to her, “Yes, auntie, this is the drone speaking to you. You shouldn’t walk about without wearing a mask,” and she smiles up to it and begins to quickly walk away. Before leaving her the drone pilot goes on to say, “Yes you’d better go back home and don’t forget to wash your hands.” In another video a female police officer watches the live video from a drone, scolding pedestrians passing through a busy intersection. Speaking through the drone’s speaker so everyone in the vicinity can hear she says things like, “Hey handsome guy speaking on your mobile! Where is your mask? Wear your mask,” and “Hey pretty young ladies eating and walking! Put on your masks, hurry up! You can go home and eat.”

Using drones to firmly but gently remind people to protect themselves is not the only way drones are being used to help contain the coronavirus. Drones are also being used to spray villages and towns with disinfectant to prevent the spread of the virus. Mr. Liu, a farmer from the village of Heze in the Shandong province said he plans to use several of the drones he uses on his farm to assist his village. The drone’s tanks are usually filled with pesticides for plants, but as it is winter he can easily swap out the plant treatment for a disinfectant spray. He plans to use his drones to treat a 16,000 square meter area. Similarly, a farmer from Longfu Sichuan Qin Chunhong treated his village this past week. He said, “Drones can cover a much wider area and achieve very good disease prevention results.”

These good Samaritans are not the only ones using drones to spray disinfectants. In 2007 XAG, then known as XAIRCRAFT, was founded in Guangzhou as an agricultural technology company. They went on to become one of the world’s leaders in smart agricultural solutions using UAS technology. This past week XAG announced that it would be establishing a 5million Yuan fund to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. They are seeking out volunteer drone operators to help them as well. XAG wants to make sure that those taking the initiative to use drones in the prevention of the coronavirus are doing so safely and effectively. They plan to concentrate their efforts in more remote villages with poorer sanitation practices in place and weaker health systems. They will also treat areas that the disease has been reported to try stopping it in it’s tracks, as well as densely populated outdoor centers.

XAG said they would provide all volunteers with the added accessories and chemicals needed for their drones. They will also make sure that operators are educated on how to safely operate the drone and apply treatments. On January 28, 2020 XAG deployed a team to disinfect one community. The team was able to effectively treat an area of over 300,000 square meters in less than 4 hours. Though the virus can spread through the air, it is also widely spread through people coming in contact with contaminated surfaces. This is why using drones to rapidly decontaminate these surfaces, along with vigilant hand washing is of paramount importance.

In other areas drones with thermometers on them are being used to scan temperatures of people out and about. If someone with a fever is found a doctor or nurse can pull them aside to properly screen them for the virus. Drones are also being used to monitor the proper disposal of both personal and medical waste to ensure that there is no chance for the virus to spread through such means. In Wuhan hospitals quickly became overfilled and makeshift hospitals have been set up outside. Drones are helping to provide light for medical staff and patients in these temporary hospitals. Six drones that are typically used to provide lighting for construction sites have been set up to hover 50 meters above the ground around the temporary hospitals. These drones can light up 6,000 square meters for about 10 hours at a time, and are up to 80% more efficient than standard street lamps.

The impact that the coronavirus has had on the people of China and the rest of the world has been immense. It’s wonderful to see that China, a country that has been on the forefront of using drone technology amongst it’s population, is now finding ways to continue doing so to help stop the spread of this disease. Hopefully by reminding people to take care of themselves and disinfecting regions rapidly and repeatedly the virus can be minimized.