విజృంభించిన కరోనా వైరస్ అదుపునకు చైనా ప్రభుత్వం అత్యాధునిక సాంకేతిక పరిజ్ఞానాన్ని ఉపయోగిస్తున్న ది. మాస్కులు వేసుకోకుండా బయటకు వచ్చిన వారిని డ్రోన్ స్పీకర్ ద్వారా హెచ్చరిస్తే ఒక పెద్దమ్మ ఇంట్లోకి పరుగెత్తుతున్న దృశ్యాన్ని ఇక్కడ చూడవచ్చు.
Officials in some parts of rural China are employing the help of drones to watch over citizens and tell them to stay indoors, as the country faces an epidemic that has killed 361 people.
One video posted by the state-run Global Times newspaper shows a drone flying over villages in the Inner Mongolia region, with a voiceover giving orders to those below.
An elderly woman is seen looking baffled as the voice says “yes, aunty, this is the drone speaking to you. You shouldn’t walk about without wearing a mask.”
A separate video posted by the Global Times allegedly showed a drone spraying sanitiser as part of efforts to control the coronavirus.
Another clip posted to the social media site Weibo showed a group of people playing the tile-based game mahjong in a village near the southwestern city of Chengdu being told to disperse after being spotted by a camera mounted on a patrolling drone.
“Playing mahjong outside is banned during the epidemic. You have been spotted. Stop playing and leave the site as soon as possible,” an official orders the villagers through a microphone while watching footage sent by the drone to his screen.
“Don’t look at the drone, child; ask your father to leave immediately,” the official tells a boy seen looking curiously up at the drone.
Regardless of the severe health scare, some Chinese netizens on Weibo were amused by the clip.
“So hardcore! High-tech makes life more efficient,” said one Weibo user. Others questioned whether the videos were real or simply created by the Chinese Communist Party for propaganda purposes.
Beijing has been calling on people to stay at home and try to avoid gathering together to prevent the spread of the virus. Shops, movie theatres and restaurants in some places have also been shut down.
