As coronavirus spreads, Chinese drones drop disinfectant and disperse public gatherings

China deploys talking drones, lighting drones and crop-spraying drones to combat the coronavirus outbreak

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Published: 9:32pm, 3 Feb 2020Updated: 6:17pm, 14 Feb 2020

This article originally appeared on ABACUS

China is already known for its rapid adoption of drones for a wide array of uses. Now they’re becoming essential tools in the fight against the new coronavirus outbreak that has taken more than 370 lives and infected thousands.

Various places throughout China are using drones to carry out tasks like spraying disinfectant over villages, dispersing public gatherings and facilitating construction.

Across the country, many villagers, companies and local governments are mounting disinfectant gears on their crop-spraying drones. A villager in the province of Shandong repurposed his own drones to spray disinfectant around his village spanning 16,000 square meters.

A villager in Shandong uses a drone to spray disinfectant over his village. (Picture: Heze Highspeed Police 5th Squad/Weibo)

Chinese agriculture technology company XAG also claimed that it sent a fleet of drones to spray disinfectant around a local community in Shandong. The company said its fleet covered over 300,000 square meters in less than four hours.

For drones that aren’t big enough to hold canisters of disinfectant, local governments are mounting megaphones on them to disperse public gatherings and scold those who aren’t wearing masks in public.