The Indian Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has released a press statement outlining the technology-based initiatives that smart cities across the country are using to combat COVID-19.
Vadodara
The district administration has installed a helium balloon attached with two cameras for surveillance on lockdown violators. The balloon has a public address system attached to it. The administration has divided the city into four zones: red, orange, yellow, and green as part of a strategy to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.
Bengaluru
The Model COVID-19 War Room, which is a data dashboard for Karnataka, was inaugurated 7 April. It will be the single source of all COVID-related data which includes people under quarantine, their contacts, medical personnel on the ground, hospitals, and district-wise and city-wise data. This real-time data is being put together by a host of software and applications.
Agra
- E-Doctor Seva is a tele-video consultation facility. It is a public-private partnership (PPP) initiative under Agra Smart City Limited. The consultation facility will be available from 10 am to 12 pm (Monday to Saturday).
For consultations, citizens will have to log in using the link and schedule an appointment with the doctor. Appointments can be booked through the mobile app. Once an appointment is taken, a particular date and time will be allocated for the consultation.
The patient can have a tele/video call with the doctor at the scheduled time. After the consultation, an online prescription can also be downloaded by the patient from the site/app. On request, the required medicines will be delivered at home from the Smart Health Centre-Pharmacy.
- Agra is also in the process of opening 10 Smart Health Centres to provide affordable and holistic healthcare services to local masses. One such centre is already operational and serving the local population.
- Smart Health Centres help to spread awareness about the virus. Each patient is given a 3-5minute briefing on the advisory for both the general consultation as well as at the dental clinic. 325 patients took consultation in March and 675 patients in February. 1,015 sanitizers and 935 masks were distributed at subsidised rates through the pharmacy at the centre.
- The Agra Lockdown Monitoring App has been launched. This video surveillance solution effectively monitors the various locations in the city to manage large crowds.
The latest in this effort is the AI-based analytics. An alert is instantly generated to help the authorities to strictly maintain social distancing in Agra. The alerts are configured through an app on the field staff mobile phones.
- Along with district administration, cooked food banks have been established, which collect cooked food packets from various NGOs and distribute it to labourers or the needy and destitute. 5,000 food packets have been distributed.
Kakinada
A COVID-19 data dashboard has been developed in Kakinada ICCC.
Chandigarh
Chandigarh has installed a comprehensive ‘fight COVID station’ with facilities like thermal screening by taking temperatures, pedestal operated hand-wash and soap dispenser, a mist spray of sodium hypochlorite solution, and a hand dryer facility. It has been installed at the Main Mandi sector-25, Chandigarh by the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh. All visitors to Mandi are expected to pass through the station.
