Even in the midst of the Covid-19 coronavirus epidemic, the Emirate of Dubai wants to stay at the cutting edge of technology. Indeed, drones take care of sterilizing the city during the night! For the past few days, residents have been witnessing a ballet of drones spraying disinfectant products in their streets.
The emirate of Dubai is part of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) whose balance sheet reports "only" 611 confirmed cases for 5 deaths . If this assessment is indeed very far from that of the Iranian neighbor, this country did not wait long to adopt containment measures. As local daily Gulf News explains , the authorities have for almost a week implemented a rather astonishing measure.
Since March 26, 2020, the Dubai Municipality has deployed an arsenal of drones whose mission is to sterilize 129 sites and 23 public spaces During the night. However, this measure is part of the current national sterilization program. According to the municipality, this is a preventive campaign aimed at "ensuring the health and safety of all members of society .
If the Dubai authorities have opted for the use of drones, the reason lies in efficiency and speed of execution of these sterilization operations. In addition, drones use different sanitation products approved by the authorities. Obviously, the emirate does not only rely on these machines and has mobilized many vehicles equipped with spraying and fumigation equipment.
Clearly cleaning up public space seems to be an effective measure. This was recently practiced in China but especially in South Korea . In the grip of an outbreak of Covid-19 cases, this country had indeed carried out a very serious campaign to disinfect the areas affected by the coronavirus. The authorities had notably targeted the city of Daegu, stronghold of the Sincheonji Church of Jesus, the famous sect where the source of infection had declared itself.
As for the use of drones in the framework in the fight against the coronavirus epidemic, the emirate of Dubai was preceded by Madrid, the Spanish capital. However, this is not about cleaning public places. Indeed, the drones deployed by the police have the mission of broadcasting messages in the streets in order to enforce confinement.
Here are images published by Gulf News on day 2 of the use of drones to sterilize public space:
