Face shields, bio-suits, and disinfection chambers — some of the ways that Coronavirus is driving innovation in India

• The onset of the Coronavirus pandemic in India is forcing innovation to focus on the healthcare system.
• From drones to robots, solutions are being re-purposed to address the building health crisis.
• The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and start ups are gearing up to find new solutions.

Coronavirus is a health crisis that’s put India’s population of over 1.3 billion people into their homes under lockdown for 21 days since March 25 — a lockdown that the government is now reportedly thinking about extending.

The silver lining is that it has shifted the focus of innovation on to the healthcare sector. From big wigs like the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to startups like drone delivering Marut — everyone wants to help.

Innovations to ramp up production of personal protective equipment (PPEs) like face shields and bio suits can go a long way to fill in the huge public-health deficiencies that India faces. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), there’s only one doctor for every 1,800 people in the country — well below the recommended bare minimum doctor to population ratio of least one doctor per 1,000 people.

Here are some of the ways the Coronavirus pandemic is driving innovation in India: