Mumbai deploys 'smart helmets' to screen for COVID-19

The imported helmets which cost around $8,045 are also in high demand in places like Dubai

Published: July 23, 2020 08:46 AFP and Compiled by Christian Borbon, Senior Web Editor

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As coronavirus infections climb in Mumbai, authorities in India's worst-hit city are turning to high-tech "smart helmets" to speed up screenings and identify suspected cases in the financial capital's densely-populated slums. Image Credit: AFP

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The portable thermoscanners - previously deployed in Dubai, Italy and China - enable health workers to record the temperatures of dozens of residents per minute and could emerge as a key weapon in Mumbai's quest to eradicate the virus from the city of 18 million. Image Credit: AFP

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"Traditional screening methods take a lot of time. You go to a slum with 20,000 people and it takes you three hours to screen 300 people," said Neelu Jain, a medical volunteer affiliated with the non-profit group Bharatiya Jain Sanghatana. Image Credit: AFP

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"But when you use these helmets, all you have to do is ask people to come out of their homes, face them and you can screen 6,000 people in two-and-a-half hours," she told AFP. Image Credit: AFP

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The helmets were donated to authorities in Mumbai and the nearby city of Pune, which have both been locked in a months-long battle against the pandemic, with cases across India soaring past one million on Friday. Image Credit: AFP

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But with just two helmets in use in each city, the push to identify and isolate infected residents will take a long time. Image Credit: AFP

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The imported helmets - which cost around 600,000 rupees ($8,045) - are also in high demand in places like Dubai, said Jain, making it very difficult to expand capacity. Image Credit: AFP

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