Watch: Robot Built By Railways Delivers Medicines To COVID-19 Patients

The Indian Railways has developed a remote-controlled device to supply medicine and food to isolated COVID-19 patients without coming in direct contact with them.

Railways Minister Piyush Goyal posted a short video on Twitter where a health worker can be seen operating the device. Fitted with three plastic trays, the device carries medicines to the patients in the ward while the man operating it stands outside the door - a safe distance away from the infected patients.

On the Forefront to Combat Coronavirus: Using innovative technology and novel thinking, Railways has created a new remote-controlled device to serve isolated patients in hospitals.

Now, patients can be properly taken care of, while maintaining social distance. pic.twitter.com/DpzeOYuDZ8

— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) April 24, 2020

The minister wrote on Twitter: "On the Forefront to Combat Coronavirus: Using innovative technology and novel thinking, Railways has created a new remote-controlled device to serve isolated patients in hospitals. Now, patients can be properly taken care of, while maintaining social distance."

On Friday, India saw the biggest spike in coronavirus cases across the country with 1,752 fresh cases in 24 hours taking the total number to 23,452 with 723 fatalities.

The country reported the surge despite the National Centre for Disease Control saying it has been successful in flattening the curve and reducing the doubling rate of the infection to 10 days.

India is currently in the middle of the nationwide lockdown announced by PM Modi on March 24 to curb the spread of the virus. The lockdown, which was meant to end on April 14, was later extended to May 3.