WHEN LIFE BECOMES SCI-FI

Yi Jinyu, a community worker in Yichun in Jiangxi Province, east China, has gained magic wings to help him combat the novel coronavirus epidemic.

He and his colleagues had to visit local residents door-to-door every day to record their temperatures, as communities and villages are an important battleground to fight the epidemic, but residents worried such visits could cause cross-infection.

So the community turned to technology to allay the fear. They began to use a drone whose infrared thermal imaging lens can take temperatures, and now the innovation works fine, Yi told Xinhua News Agency.

The drone also has a loudspeaker. When it comes near a residence, the loudspeaker blares out an announcement and people come to their windows to have their temperature taken.