COVID-19: Aviation Ministry allows Telangana govt to use drones for vaccine delivery

By Lokmat English Desk | Published: May 1, 2021 11:27 AM2021-05-01T11:27:57+5:302021-05-01T11:27:57+5:30

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The Civil Aviation Ministry on Friday permitted the Telangana government to use drones for experimental delivery of vaccines within the visual line of sight.

The ministry's statement does not mention which particular vaccine will be part of this experimental delivery.

The ministry on Twitter said it has granted conditional exemption to the Telangana government from the Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Rules, 2021, for "conducting experimental delivery of vaccines using drones within the visual line of sight range".

This exemption will be valid for a period of one year or until further orders, it noted.

This development surfaced after the Telangana government had sought this exemption from UAS Rules, 2021 for delivery of vaccines.

Telangana recorded a total of 77,727 active COVID-19 cases. In the 24 hours, the State reported 7,646 fresh cases with 53 fatalities.

The Telangana government on April 30 announced that it would be extending night curfew till May 8.

On April 20 the government had said a night curfew from 9 pm to 5 am would be imposed across the state, till May 1.

The Centre has liberalised and accelerated Phase-3 strategy of COVID-19 vaccination and will be implemented from May 1 and registration for the new eligible population groups started on Wednesday.

As per Telangana Chief Minister's office, as on April 24 April, out of the 4 Crore population in Telangana, 35 lakh people have already been immunised. CM K. Chandrashekar Rao has decided to vaccinate remaining people in the State free of cost from May 1.