Irish drone operator bins fast food for medical drops

FILE PHOTO: Residents receive a drone home delivery of essential household and medical supplies in the village of Moneygall, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Ireland, May 8, 2020. REUTERS/Jason Cairnduff

Moneygall, IRELAND (Reuters) - Ireland's Manna Aero should have been dropping off its first takeaway orders around a Dublin university campus by drone in March but then the coronavirus pandemic shut the country and its pilot programme down.

Within a week, the drone company was testing out an entirely different concept - delivering medication and critical supplies to isolated elderly people whom the Irish government had told to stay home to avoid infection.