Guiyang HIDZ uses drones to disinfect area

A drone is ready to start disinfecting Guiyang HIDZ in the capital city of southwestern Guizhou province, on Feb 8. [Photo/gywb.cn]

Guiyang National High-tech Industrial Development Zone (Guiyang HIDZ) -- in Guiyang, capital of southwestern Guizhou province -- used drones to spray disinfectants from above Guiyang HIDZ, officials said on Feb 8.

The move to employ the drones -- or unmanned aerial vehicles -- is to help prevent the novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic from spreading, while ensuring that resident companies can successfully and safely return to work and production, officials added.

Six volunteers from the Guizhou Civil UAV Association prepared disinfectants and water in advance and operated three UAVs 13 times according to a planned route, disinfecting an area of more than three hectares.

According to officials from the zone, the use of drones to spray disinfectants can expand the disinfection area, spray evenly, ensure that there are no blind spots in the disinfection work and avoid close contact.

In half a day, the drones team and the ground disinfection team dispatched by the zone jointly disinfected 3.9 hectares of the total outdoor environment, officials said.

The drones disinfected more than 10,000 square meters of the office area, more than 6,000 square meters of business spots, over 500 staff quarters in 12 buildings, six garbage centralized points and more than 30 public toilets.

Officials said the use of drones effectively improves the efficiency of the disinfection for epidemic prevention.