{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,9]],"date-time":"2026-10-09T04:11:07Z","timestamp":1791519067994,"version":"4.3.4"},"reference-count":47,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,1]],"date-time":"2022-11-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1667260800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:sec id=\"sec001\">\n<jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>The declaration of COVID-19 as a pandemic on March 11 2020, by the World Health Organisation prompted the need for a sustained and a rapid international response. In a swift response, the Government of Ghana, in partnership with Zipline company, launched the use of Unmanned Automated Vehicles (UAV) to transport suspected samples from selected districts to two foremost testing centres in the country. Here, we present the experiences of employing this technology and its impact on the transport time to the second largest testing centre, the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine (KCCR) in Kumasi, Ghana.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec002\">\n<jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Swab samples collected from suspected COVID-19 patients were transported to the Zipline office by health workers. Information on the samples were sent to laboratory personnel located at KCCR through a WhatsApp platform to get them ready to receive the suspected COVID-19 samples while Zipline repackaged samples and transported them via drone. Time of take-off was reported as well as time of drop-off.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec003\">\n<jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>A total of 2537 COVID-19 suspected samples were received via drone transport from 10 districts between April 2020 to June 2021 in 440 deliveries. Ejura-Sekyedumase District Health Directorate delivered the highest number of samples (765; 30%). The farthest district to use the drone was Pru East, located 270 km away from KCCR in Kumasi and 173 km to the Zipline office in Mampong. Here, significantly, it took on the average 39 minutes for drones to deliver samples compared to 117 minutes spent in transporting samples by road (p&lt;0.001).<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec004\">\n<jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>The use of drones for sample transport during the COVID-19 pandemic significantly reduced the travel time taken for samples to be transported by road to the testing site. This has enhanced innovative measures to fight the pandemic using technology.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0277057","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,1]],"date-time":"2022-11-01T17:28:15Z","timestamp":1667323695000},"page":"e0277057","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":31,"title":["Using drones to transport suspected COVID-19 samples; experiences from the second largest testing centre in Ghana, West Africa"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"17","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7691-914X","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Augustina 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African countries struggle to find the coronavirus test kits they need 2020 [Available from: https:\/\/www. thenewhumanitarian. org\/news\/2020\/05\/18. 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Low coronavirus testing in Africa leads to blind spots: Africa CDC chief. 2020 30 April 2020."},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0277057.ref019","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"67","DOI":"10.28991\/HIJ-2020-01-02-03","article-title":"The use of zipline drones technology for COVID-19 samples transportation in Ghana","volume":"1","author":"E Lamptey","year":"2020","journal-title":"HighTech and Innovation Journal"},{"key":"pone.0277057.ref020","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Arakpogun E, El Sahn Z, Prime KS, Gerli P, Olan F. Africa\u2019s resilience in the face of Covid-19 pandemic: Let\u2019s talk about it! 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