PDRM introduces drones that monitor individual’s temperature in public areas

Malaysia is currently facing the worst wave of the Covid-19 virus up to date, something needs to be done to ensure that the public complies to the SOPs.

The Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) had just introduced drones that detect people with a high body temperature at public areas during the Full Movement Control Order (FMCO). The initiative will be rolled out in Terengganu, state police chief Rohaimi Md Isa said.

He said that the drones will be equipped with temperature scanning technology and each of them can detect body temperatures in a group of people from a height of 20m above ground.

“If the drone detects a person with a high body temperature, such as 37.5 degrees Celsius, it will emit a red light and our enforcement personnel will go to the location to identify the symptomatic individual.”

“We have been using these drones for the past two or three days and they help our enforcement team immensely. Although we have 157 monitoring teams, they move from one location to another.”

“They are unable to monitor every location at once, including detecting symptomatic individuals in public places” he said.

He added that the drones were loaned to the state from a private company to help the PDRM to enforce the SOPs during the FMCO. Similarly, the drones were previously used to track the movements and temperatures of residents in Dungun.

Nevertheless, he said that the compliance with FMCO SOP among Terengganu residents was round 96% and the PDRM is proud of the residents in Terengganu.

It is not known if the drones carry a speaker which allows the monitoring team to speak to the public. However, don’t be surprise if there is, given that drone technology had been improved exponentially during these times.