Alarmed by the rising coronavirus graph, independent legislator Geeta Jain has asked the state government authorities to provide high-tech "smart helmets" to the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC). These can be used to speed up the screening and identification of suspected COVID-19 cases in the twin-city.
In her letter to the guardian minister, Jain has sought provision of the smart helmets in lines with their Mumbai and Pune counterparts who have been efficiently using the technology. This enables health workers to record the temperatures of dozens of citizens per minute. A Pune-based non-political and non-profit social organization, Bharatiya Jain Sanghatana (BJS), has earlier donated four such smart helmets – two each for Mumbai and Thane.
“The civic administration should try and procure the smart helmets. However, till then it has an option of approaching the social organization with a request of lending the portable thermo-scanners for a few days to launch an intensified mass screening drive in the high risk zones, containment areas and congested localities in the twin-city. The technology has the potential to emerge as a key weapon in the combat to eradicate the virus.” said Jain.
Unlike the traditional screening methods which consume a lot of time, the smart helmets help in screening a large number of people every minute while adhering to social distancing norms owing to its wide reach. Armed with a thermo-scan sensor, the helmet is linked to a smart watch, on which the temperature is displayed. When the temperature of any person is found to be above normal, the health workers can easily isolate him or her, for further tests to check for COVID-19.
With 150 more people testing positive on Tuesday, the total number positive cases has reached 6,834. The death toll has climbed to 233. The MBMC had recently embarked on a five-day ‘Chase the Virus’ drive in which health workers surveyed more than 2.90 lakh houses.
