Police around the world are using drones to warn public of Coronavirus

Police around the world have started to use drones to warn the general public of the highly contagious Coronavirus. We have seen examples already in China, France, Spain, the U.S. and now also in Western Australia. The drones are mostly used to enforce social distancing and to warn people to stay inside.

The first instance in which drones were used to warn the public is from a few weeks ago. A video that was shared on social media showed how a drone told people to go back inside and stay at home in an effort to stop the highly contagious Coronavirus from spreading.

Western Australia police to use drones to warn public

Since then we have seen police in a number of other countries starting to use drones for similar purposes. There have been examples in France, Spain, the U.S. and now according to WAtoday, the police will start to do the same.

In most cases, the police have been using DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise drones outfitted with loudspeakers. But, as you can see in the video here, the drone that will be used by the Western Australia police is quite impressive. It is an aircraft from the DJI Matrice 200/210 line-up.

The unmanned aircraft is a quadcopter outfitted with flashing lights, a real loudspeaker and a DJI Zenmuse Z30 camera with zoom lens. One can only imagine how it might impress or scare unsuspecting pedestrians in a park.

According to WAtoday, the drones will be “used at parks, beaches and cafe strips to ensure people are adhering to strict new gathering rules which ban people venturing outside in groups of more than two, unless they are family or live together.”

Over the last few weeks, we have not only seen drones used to communicate to people on the street but also to spray disinfectants. However, perhaps the most extreme example took in China, where drones with thermal cameras were used to remotely measure the temperature of pedestrians to determine if they might be infected with the Coronavirus (COVID-19).

What do you think of the use of drones by the police in an effort to enforce social distancing? You think our country is slowly turning into a police state or are you ok with these measures? Let us know in the comments below what you think of the police using drones to warn the public.

Photo credits:  WAtoday and 9News