ADF STAFF
In the fight against COVID-19, Morocco has taken to the skies.
Across Morocco, remote-piloted drones have become the eyes, ears — in some cases, the voices — of government agencies working to enforce social distancing, make public announcements and deliver sanitization supplies.
Morocco ranks among Africa’s most advanced countries in using drones, according to Yassine Qamous, head of Droneway Maroc, which distributes drones.
“This is a real craze,” Qamous told Agence France-Presse (AFP). “In just weeks, demand has tripled in Morocco and other countries in the region.”
One way Moroccan authorities use drones is to break up unsanctioned gatherings held on rooftops to get around social distancing restrictions and avoid ground-based police.
Another Moroccan company, Farasha Systems, has been flying drones in the coastal city of Temara to disinfect areas. “We have decided to deploy our drones, our knowledge and our technology to support local authorities by disinfecting public spaces,” said company founder Aberahman Kriouile, according to LesEco.ma, a Moroccan news and economics site.
Farasha also has developed a drone capable of detecting a person’s body temperature from a distance.
Morocco’s launch of drone-based surveillance is part of a broad technological response to COVID-19 across the continent.
- In Tunisia, hospitals use “robot nurses” capable of taking patients’ temperatures, checking pulse rates and measuring blood oxygen levels.
- In Nigeria, contact-tracing mobile phone apps use Bluetooth connections to track the whereabouts of potential COVID-19 spreaders and warn those nearby of their presence.
- In Kenya, where mobile money is common, President Uhuru Kenyatta has urged citizens to use cashless transactions to avoid spreading COVID-19.
In South Africa’s Limpopo region, authorities in the Greater Tzaneen Municipality use a drone outfitted with a loudspeaker broadcasting the voice of district Mayor Maripe Mangena to remind residents of the lockdown and to break up gatherings.
The camera-equipped drone can record gatherings and count people, helping authorities decide whether an activity violates social distancing rules and must be shut down.
“The drone was able to get real-time information about whether people are observing the lockdown,” municipal manager Phapelo Matlala told Sowetan Live. “Where we find that regulations were not observed, the drone can go there, and the councilor can immediately say, ‘You guys, you are not observing.’”
Back in Morocco, the demand for drones is boosting local development of unmanned aerial devices capable of thermal imaging and aerial disinfecting.
The International University of Rabat has deployed its own prototypes in projects across the country and is working on software applications to track people, Mohsine Bouya, the university’s director of technology development and transfer, told AFP.
The tracking software requires a change in the country’s laws to be deployed, Bouya said.
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