The Civil Aviation Ministry on Friday permitted the Telangana government to use drones for experimental delivery of vaccines within the visual line of sight. The ministry's statement does not mention which particular vaccine will be part of this experimental delivery. The ministry on Twitter said it has granted conditional exemption to the Telangana government from the Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Rules, 2021, for "conducting experimental delivery of vaccines using drones within the visual line of sight range".
This exemption will be valid for a period of one year or until further orders, it noted. On April 22, the ministry had permitted the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to conduct a feasibility study on using drones to deliver COVID-19 vaccine. The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 15 crore, the Union Health Ministry said on Thursday. India is struggling with the second wave of the coronavirus infection as hospitals in several states are reeling under a shortage of medical oxygen and beds.
The Centre's liberalised and accelerated phase-3 strategy of COVID-19 vaccination will be implemented from Saturday. Registration for the new eligible population groups started from Wednesday. India saw 3,86,452 new coronavirus infections in a span of 24 hours, the highest single-day rise so far, pushing the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 1,87,62,976, while active cases crossed the 31-lakh mark, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday. The death toll increased to 2,08,330 with 3,498 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.