New Delhi: From the initial reports of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in Wuhan city of China to its proliferation across the globe, technology companies have been rolling out various applications and devices to help fight it and provide services, care to the society.
However, it is the reapplication of technologies and equipment from other sectors in the fight against the pandemic that has underlined the ingenuity in today’s time.
One such example of a technology reapplication can be witnessed on the streets of New Delhi. Japanese-manufactured chemical sprayers are been employed by the Indian government to fight the COVID-19 infection, using it to disinfect streets and localities at a time in hotspot areas or red zones.
The spray technology – farm machine – is originally designed by a Maruyama Manufacturing – a Japanese company to spray pesticides over rice paddies, crop fields, and fruit orchards.
With arms extending up to 15.9 meters wide, the spraying machine can cover a significant area in one go. The arms are retractable, telescopic, and collapsible – allowing the machine to operate without any issues even on arterial lanes, narrow streets, pocketed corners, and cement-sandwiched pathways – making it a perfect tech for the city of New Delhi. The state government of New Delhi has currently pressed a total of 70 agrochemical sprayers to work, sterilizing roads and buildings in areas where many COVID-19 infections have been reported.
Speaking to media in April, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has said that ‘his government had procured 10 high-tech Japanese machines for sanitization from PI industries free of cost, which would be part of the massive sanitization program will be carried out in red and orange zones in Delhi.’
However, India is not the only nation which is using farm tech, equipment, and tools to control the outbreak. The trend of weaponizing farm equipment against the pandemic started with China, and now can be seen in other western nations as well.
According to reports, the Japanese company which is assisting the New Delhi government is also aiding 80 other public-funded departments and agencies around the world.
