Sitges: With the summer heatwave who sent a horde of people to the beach, the authorities in the northeast coastal city on the seaside of Sitges were testing the use of drones to monitor the crowd in real-time and fight the rapid increase in Covid-19.
“This is a pioneering system,” said Ricardo Monje, a drone operator with the developer of the Annunzia Ice project.
“We can take photos, pass some software and with software we can calculate how many people on the beach.” The pilot project will be until August 22 and must allow the authorities to react faster to the crowds that make up the 18 kilometers of the coast, the city hall said.
“If we see the beach very crowded we can continue the information to the beach monitor that will make a check and ensure people keep their distance,” said Guillem Escola official.
Drones monitor coastal capacity to prevent density.
(Reuters) “If people don’t pay attention, then we send the police.” City Hall said the project would comply with all data protection laws and ensure that the images captured by people would remain anonymous, but several locals daydream.
“I think it’s a good idea but they have to communicate with the population and identify drones because if not, this is the intervention in our civil liberties,” said Jimmy Burns, an Anglo-Spanish journalist who lives in Sitges.
Police in Madrid have used drones equipped with spotlights and loudspeakers to find and break the outside parties.
Driven by a very contagious Delta variant and a sharp increase in socializing among young people, the incidence of Covid-19 Spain has more than three times in the past two weeks.
Regional authorities in Catalonia, which have a 14-day Spanish highest infection rate of 1,068 cases per 100,000 people, more than double the national average, saying on Wednesday they will wear curly at 158 ​​cities, including Sitges.