Using drones to transport suspected COVID-19 samples; experiences from the second largest testing centre in Ghana, West Africa
The declaration of COVID-19 as a pandemic on March 11 2020, by the World Health Organisation prompted the need for a sustained and a rapid international response. In a swift response, the Government of Ghana, in partnership with Zipline company, launched the use of Unmanned Automated Vehicles (UAV)...
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| Veröffentlicht in: | PloS one 2022-11, Vol.17 (11), p.e0277057 |
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| creator | Sylverken, Augustina Angelina Owusu, Michael Agbavor, Bernadette Kwarteng, Alex Ayisi-Boateng, Nana Kwame Ofori, Patrick El-Duah, Philip Yeboah, Richmond Aryeetey, Sherihane Addo Asamoah, Jesse Ekekpi, Rita Ziem Oppong, Morrah Gorman, Richmond Brempong, Kofi Adjei Nyarko-Afriyie, Emmanuella Owusu Bonsu, Felix Larsen-Reindorf, Rita Rockson Adjei, Michael Boateng, Gifty Asiedu-Bekoe, Franklin Sarkodie, Badu Laryea, Dennis O Tinkorang, Emmanuel Kumah Aboagye, Patrick Nsiah Asare, Anthony Obiri-Danso, Kwasi Owusu-Dabo, Ellis Adu-Sarkodie, Yaw Phillips, Richard Odame |
| description | The declaration of COVID-19 as a pandemic on March 11 2020, by the World Health Organisation prompted the need for a sustained and a rapid international response. In a swift response, the Government of Ghana, in partnership with Zipline company, launched the use of Unmanned Automated Vehicles (UAV) to transport suspected samples from selected districts to two foremost testing centres in the country. Here, we present the experiences of employing this technology and its impact on the transport time to the second largest testing centre, the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine (KCCR) in Kumasi, Ghana.
Swab samples collected from suspected COVID-19 patients were transported to the Zipline office by health workers. Information on the samples were sent to laboratory personnel located at KCCR through a WhatsApp platform to get them ready to receive the suspected COVID-19 samples while Zipline repackaged samples and transported them via drone. Time of take-off was reported as well as time of drop-off.
A total of 2537 COVID-19 suspected samples were received via drone transport from 10 districts between April 2020 to June 2021 in 440 deliveries. Ejura-Sekyedumase District Health Directorate delivered the highest number of samples (765; 30%). The farthest district to use the drone was Pru East, located 270 km away from KCCR in Kumasi and 173 km to the Zipline office in Mampong. Here, significantly, it took on the average 39 minutes for drones to deliver samples compared to 117 minutes spent in transporting samples by road (p |
| doi_str_mv | 10.1371/journal.pone.0277057 |
| format | Article |
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Swab samples collected from suspected COVID-19 patients were transported to the Zipline office by health workers. Information on the samples were sent to laboratory personnel located at KCCR through a WhatsApp platform to get them ready to receive the suspected COVID-19 samples while Zipline repackaged samples and transported them via drone. Time of take-off was reported as well as time of drop-off.
A total of 2537 COVID-19 suspected samples were received via drone transport from 10 districts between April 2020 to June 2021 in 440 deliveries. Ejura-Sekyedumase District Health Directorate delivered the highest number of samples (765; 30%). The farthest district to use the drone was Pru East, located 270 km away from KCCR in Kumasi and 173 km to the Zipline office in Mampong. Here, significantly, it took on the average 39 minutes for drones to deliver samples compared to 117 minutes spent in transporting samples by road (p<0.001).
The use of drones for sample transport during the COVID-19 pandemic significantly reduced the travel time taken for samples to be transported by road to the testing site. This has enhanced innovative measures to fight the pandemic using technology.</description><identifier>ISSN: 1932-6203</identifier><identifier>EISSN: 1932-6203</identifier><identifier>DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0277057</identifier><identifier>PMID: 36318579</identifier><language>eng</language><publisher>United States: Public Library of Science</publisher><subject>Coronaviruses ; COVID-19 ; COVID-19 diagnostic tests ; Disease control ; Drones ; Engineering and Technology ; Ghana ; Health facilities ; Health services ; Humans ; Management ; Medical personnel ; Medical research ; Medical supplies ; Medical tests ; Medicine and Health Sciences ; Pandemics ; People and Places ; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 ; Social networks ; Technology ; Testing laboratories ; Travel time ; Unmanned Aerial Devices</subject><ispartof>PloS one, 2022-11, Vol.17 (11), p.e0277057</ispartof><rights>COPYRIGHT 2022 Public Library of Science</rights><rights>2022 Sylverken et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. 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In a swift response, the Government of Ghana, in partnership with Zipline company, launched the use of Unmanned Automated Vehicles (UAV) to transport suspected samples from selected districts to two foremost testing centres in the country. Here, we present the experiences of employing this technology and its impact on the transport time to the second largest testing centre, the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine (KCCR) in Kumasi, Ghana.
Swab samples collected from suspected COVID-19 patients were transported to the Zipline office by health workers. Information on the samples were sent to laboratory personnel located at KCCR through a WhatsApp platform to get them ready to receive the suspected COVID-19 samples while Zipline repackaged samples and transported them via drone. Time of take-off was reported as well as time of drop-off.
A total of 2537 COVID-19 suspected samples were received via drone transport from 10 districts between April 2020 to June 2021 in 440 deliveries. Ejura-Sekyedumase District Health Directorate delivered the highest number of samples (765; 30%). The farthest district to use the drone was Pru East, located 270 km away from KCCR in Kumasi and 173 km to the Zipline office in Mampong. Here, significantly, it took on the average 39 minutes for drones to deliver samples compared to 117 minutes spent in transporting samples by road (p<0.001).
The use of drones for sample transport during the COVID-19 pandemic significantly reduced the travel time taken for samples to be transported by road to the testing site. This has enhanced innovative measures to fight the pandemic using technology.</description><subject>Coronaviruses</subject><subject>COVID-19</subject><subject>COVID-19 diagnostic tests</subject><subject>Disease control</subject><subject>Drones</subject><subject>Engineering and Technology</subject><subject>Ghana</subject><subject>Health facilities</subject><subject>Health services</subject><subject>Humans</subject><subject>Management</subject><subject>Medical personnel</subject><subject>Medical research</subject><subject>Medical supplies</subject><subject>Medical tests</subject><subject>Medicine and Health Sciences</subject><subject>Pandemics</subject><subject>People and Places</subject><subject>Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2</subject><subject>Social networks</subject><subject>Technology</subject><subject>Testing laboratories</subject><subject>Travel time</subject><subject>Unmanned Aerial 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Edition)</collection><collection>Medical Database</collection><collection>Algology Mycology and Protozoology Abstracts (Microbiology C)</collection><collection>Biological Science Database</collection><collection>Engineering Database</collection><collection>Nursing & Allied Health Premium</collection><collection>Advanced Technologies & Aerospace Database</collection><collection>ProQuest Advanced Technologies & Aerospace Collection</collection><collection>Biotechnology and BioEngineering Abstracts</collection><collection>Environmental Science Database</collection><collection>Materials Science Collection</collection><collection>ProQuest Central (New)</collection><collection>ProQuest One Academic (New)</collection><collection>Publicly Available Content Database</collection><collection>ProQuest Health & Medical Research Collection</collection><collection>ProQuest One Academic Middle East (New)</collection><collection>ProQuest One Health & Nursing</collection><collection>ProQuest One Academic Eastern Edition (DO NOT USE)</collection><collection>ProQuest One Applied & Life Sciences</collection><collection>ProQuest One Academic</collection><collection>ProQuest One Academic UKI Edition</collection><collection>ProQuest Central China</collection><collection>Engineering Collection</collection><collection>Environmental Science Collection</collection><collection>Genetics Abstracts</collection><collection>MEDLINE - Academic</collection><collection>PubMed Central (Full Participant titles)</collection><collection>DOAJ Directory of Open Access Journals</collection><jtitle>PloS one</jtitle></facets><delivery><delcategory>Remote Search Resource</delcategory><fulltext>fulltext</fulltext></delivery><addata><au>Sylverken, Augustina Angelina</au><au>Owusu, Michael</au><au>Agbavor, Bernadette</au><au>Kwarteng, Alex</au><au>Ayisi-Boateng, Nana Kwame</au><au>Ofori, Patrick</au><au>El-Duah, Philip</au><au>Yeboah, Richmond</au><au>Aryeetey, Sherihane</au><au>Addo Asamoah, Jesse</au><au>Ekekpi, Rita Ziem</au><au>Oppong, Morrah</au><au>Gorman, Richmond</au><au>Brempong, Kofi Adjei</au><au>Nyarko-Afriyie, Emmanuella</au><au>Owusu Bonsu, Felix</au><au>Larsen-Reindorf, Rita</au><au>Rockson Adjei, Michael</au><au>Boateng, Gifty</au><au>Asiedu-Bekoe, Franklin</au><au>Sarkodie, Badu</au><au>Laryea, Dennis O</au><au>Tinkorang, Emmanuel</au><au>Kumah Aboagye, Patrick</au><au>Nsiah Asare, Anthony</au><au>Obiri-Danso, Kwasi</au><au>Owusu-Dabo, Ellis</au><au>Adu-Sarkodie, Yaw</au><au>Phillips, Richard Odame</au><format>journal</format><genre>article</genre><ristype>JOUR</ristype><atitle>Using drones to transport suspected COVID-19 samples; experiences from the second largest testing centre in Ghana, West Africa</atitle><jtitle>PloS one</jtitle><addtitle>PLoS One</addtitle><date>2022-11-01</date><risdate>2022</risdate><volume>17</volume><issue>11</issue><spage>e0277057</spage><pages>e0277057-</pages><issn>1932-6203</issn><eissn>1932-6203</eissn><abstract>The declaration of COVID-19 as a pandemic on March 11 2020, by the World Health Organisation prompted the need for a sustained and a rapid international response. In a swift response, the Government of Ghana, in partnership with Zipline company, launched the use of Unmanned Automated Vehicles (UAV) to transport suspected samples from selected districts to two foremost testing centres in the country. Here, we present the experiences of employing this technology and its impact on the transport time to the second largest testing centre, the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine (KCCR) in Kumasi, Ghana.
Swab samples collected from suspected COVID-19 patients were transported to the Zipline office by health workers. Information on the samples were sent to laboratory personnel located at KCCR through a WhatsApp platform to get them ready to receive the suspected COVID-19 samples while Zipline repackaged samples and transported them via drone. Time of take-off was reported as well as time of drop-off.
A total of 2537 COVID-19 suspected samples were received via drone transport from 10 districts between April 2020 to June 2021 in 440 deliveries. Ejura-Sekyedumase District Health Directorate delivered the highest number of samples (765; 30%). The farthest district to use the drone was Pru East, located 270 km away from KCCR in Kumasi and 173 km to the Zipline office in Mampong. Here, significantly, it took on the average 39 minutes for drones to deliver samples compared to 117 minutes spent in transporting samples by road (p<0.001).
The use of drones for sample transport during the COVID-19 pandemic significantly reduced the travel time taken for samples to be transported by road to the testing site. This has enhanced innovative measures to fight the pandemic using technology.</abstract><cop>United States</cop><pub>Public Library of Science</pub><pmid>36318579</pmid><doi>10.1371/journal.pone.0277057</doi><orcidid>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7691-914X</orcidid><orcidid>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0961-4434</orcidid><orcidid>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8992-0222</orcidid><oa>free_for_read</oa></addata></record> |
| fulltext | fulltext |
| identifier | ISSN: 1932-6203 |
| ispartof | PloS one, 2022-11, Vol.17 (11), p.e0277057 |
| issn | 1932-6203 1932-6203 |
| language | eng |
| recordid | cdi_plos_journals_2731034060 |
| source | Public Library of Science (PLoS) Journals Open Access; MEDLINE; DOAJ Directory of Open Access Journals; Elektronische Zeitschriftenbibliothek - Frei zugängliche E-Journals; PubMed Central; Free Full-Text Journals in Chemistry |
| subjects | Coronaviruses COVID-19 COVID-19 diagnostic tests Disease control Drones Engineering and Technology Ghana Health facilities Health services Humans Management Medical personnel Medical research Medical supplies Medical tests Medicine and Health Sciences Pandemics People and Places Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 Social networks Technology Testing laboratories Travel time Unmanned Aerial Devices |
| title | Using drones to transport suspected COVID-19 samples; experiences from the second largest testing centre in Ghana, West Africa |
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