According to gpsworld.com , Japanese company ‘Terra Drone’ is employing its urban air vehicle (UAV) system to transport medical samples and quarantine supplies to fight the coronavirus (covid-19) in China.
Via its subsidiary ‘Antwork’, as soon as the Wuhan quarantine began on January 23rd, the company petitioned to provide drone technical support. And on February 6th a medical delivery drone flew from the People’s Hospital of Xinchang to the disease control center of Xinchang County, marking the launch of the first urban-air transportation service to help fight covid-19.
WHO reports at least 95,270 people in China are infected and at least 3,280 have died. Xinchang county is in Zhejiang province, one of the areas most severely hit by the virus.
Antwork’s RA3 and tr7s drones and unmanned RH1 station are ensuring that medical samples and quarantine materials can travel with minimal risk. The automatic UAV system significantly reduces contact between samples and personnel, as well as improves delivery speed.
Using drones has increased the speed of transport by more than 50% compared to road transportation, and is proving to be a more efficient means of transportation for epidemic prevention and control.
The drones also relieve the personnel shortage as more and more medical staff and ambulances are transferred to the front lines, making the best use of human and material resources.
After their initial success, ‘Antwork’ are assisting other medical institutions in China to deploy delivery drones for the anti-epidemic effort.
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