How is Portugal coping with a shortage of workers to battle wildfires that have become an annual scourge?

Portugal will use longrange drones and other surveillance means to reinforce the monitoring of summer wildfires, officials said on Monday. There was some urgency to finding a solution since staffing has been depleted by the coronavirus and the related lockdown. Officials said last month that around 100 firefighters had been infected by the novel coronavirus. Environment Minister Joao Matos Fernandes said 12 drones, each with a range of 100 km and capable of flying for up to eight hours to spot wildfires, would be deployed from the end of June, when higher temperatures make fires more likely. Portugal is one of the bloc’s worst-hit countries by fires every year. Parts of the country’s interior are deserted as people have left to live in cities or abroad.