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UK Covid-19 toll crosses 20,000 as robots, drones deployed
Drones and robots have been pressed into service in some areas of England. Robots have been used in the town of Milton Keynes for nearly two years to deliver groceries, but more have been deployed to deliver supplies to health professionals who have less time to shop.
The UK-wide death toll crossed the grim milestone of 20,000 deaths on Saturday, as practices and plans for greater use of robots and drones to deliver essential supplies were fast-tracked, particularly for the benefit of health professionals dealing with the pandemic.
Figures released on Saturday show 20,319 deaths and 148,377 cases, bringing into sharp focus the March 17 claim of the chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance that deaths below 20,000 would be “horrible”, but a “good outcome”. There were little signs of the toll limiting around that figure.
Drones and robots have been pressed into service in some areas of England. Robots have been used in the town of Milton Keynes for nearly two years to deliver groceries, but more have been deployed to deliver supplies to health professionals who have less time to shop.
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Transport secretary Grant Shapps announced trial from Monday to deliver essential medical supplies by drone from the mainland to the Isle of Wight on the south coast of England. It involves a drone with a payload of up to 100 kg and distance capability of more than 1,000 km.
The drone with space similar to that in a car boot will takeoff from Southampton or Portsmouth and deliver supplies to the St Mary’s Hospital near Newport on the Isle of Wight. The project is likely to rolled out in other remote places.
In Milton Keynes, Starship, the company that produces delivery robots, has seen a surge in demand for robots carrying items within a 6km radius. Parcels, groceries and food are directly delivered from stores, at the time that the customer requests via a mobile app. Once ordered the robots’ entire journey and location is monitored on a smartphone.
Henry Harris-Burland of Starship told the media: “Right now we are offering free delivery to all NHS workers within the community. We want to make life a little bit easier for these people in these very, very stressful times”.
“Lots of them are doing ... 80-hour weeks and they don’t have time to go to the local grocery store, so they use our robots for their shopping. We’re honoured that we can be part of that solution.”
Noting the challenge of ferrying supplies to the Isle of Wight, Maggie Oldham of the local NHS Trust said: “This work (drone trial) has the potential to significantly improve services for our local community by reducing waiting times for test results and speeding up the transfer of important, possibly life-saving medication.”
Various types of unmanned aircraft are to be trialled to see how they could improve the movement of medical supplies between the three hospitals in Hampshire – Southampton General Hospital, Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth and St Mary’s Hospital on the Isle of Wight.
