Ghana is using delivery drones from U.S.-based startup
Zipline to enable it to test people more quickly outside major cities for the
novel coronavirus, the company said on Monday.
Ghana has
834 confirmed infections and nine people have died from COVID-19, the disease
the virus causes.
Zipline
operated its first coronavirus test flight on April 1 and will now fly samples
collected from more than 1,000 health facilities in rural areas to laboratories
in the capital Accra and to Kumasi, the second-largest city.
“Using
contactless drone delivery to transport COVID-19 test samples will allow the
government to respond to the pandemic and help save lives more quickly,”
Zipline Chief Executive Keller Rinaudo said in a release.
As of April
15, the Ghana Health Service said it had tested 57,000 coronavirus samples.
Zipline,
which already operates fleets of drones in Ghana and Rwanda to deliver blood,
vaccines and other essential medical equipment to rural areas, is working with
the Ministry of Health to enable the coronavirus sample flights.
It said it
expects to operate the service daily “for the duration of the Government’s
COVID-19 response efforts.” - Reuters
No comments:
Post a Comment