Telangana to be the first Indian state to begin drone delivery trials for COVID-19 vaccines, medicines starting tomorrow

• Skye Air Mobility has partnered with BlueDart Express to start drone delivery trials of healthcare items in Telangana.
• The drone delivery trials will start tomorrow and continue until October 17.
• These drones will carry and deliver medicines in boxes that weigh 2-3 kg.

The Telangana government is scheduled to kick off drone delivery trials of medicines and Covid-19 vaccines from tomorrow onwards. The trial run will continue until October 17 and it will take place in Vikarabad. The project will be headed by drone delivery startup Skye Air Mobility in partnership with BlueDart Express for the deliveries.

The project titled ‘Medicine From The Sky’ will mark the debut of trials for Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) $4 making Telangana the first state to do so. Its main purpose is to deliver vaccines and medicines in semi-urban and rural areas where road connectivity is difficult. The trials will take place in three phases, and continue for a little over a month until October 17.

The first two days of the trial which is on September 9 and 10 will have the drones flying in the visual line of sight. This means that the drones will fly between 500 to 700 meters from the base, and they will be visible to the naked eye. Then from September 11 onwards, delivery trials for the BVLOS drone flights will take place. These drones will fly for 9-10 kms and will carry consignments of vaccines, medical samples and other health care items.

In the initial stage of the trials, the drones will not carry Covid-19 vaccines but others, according to a $4 by Times of India. The drones will take off from the Vikarabad District hospital carrying boxes that weigh 2-3 kg, the report added. The medicines will be delivered to health care centres that are located 500 metres away from the hospital. The drones will also fly at an altitude of up to 400 feet.

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