MLA seeks smart helmets to outsmart Covid-19 in MBMC

Alarmed by the rise in coronavirus cases in Mira Bhayandar area, Independent legislator- Geeta Jain has asked the state government to provide high-tech "smart helmets" to the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC).

These helmets can be used for speeding up screenings 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 on the lines of Mumbai and Pune. Both the cities are efficiently using the technology. It enables health workers to record the temperatures of dozens of citizens per minute. A Pune-based nonpolitical and non-profit social organisation Bharatiya Jain Sanghatana (BJS)-has donated four such smart helmets – two each to Mumbai and Thane. “The civic administration should try and procure the smart helmets. Till then it can request social organisations to lend portable thermoscanners for a few days in order to launch an intensified mass screening drive in 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, smart helmets help in screening a large number of people every minute while adhering to physical distancing norms. 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 for Covid-19.

With 150 more people testing positive on Tuesday, the total number of cumulative positives 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.