Rwanda deploys robots to minimize coronavirus risk

Meet Akazuba, Ikizere and Ngabo.

These are no ordinary healthcare workers.

UPSOT: Hello.

Good morning.

I am here to take your temperature.

They report for duty at the Kanyinya COVID-19 treatment facility - a short distance from Rwanda's capital Kigali.

The African nation has deployed these three robots in a bid to minimize contact between patients infected with the coronavirus and doctors and nurses.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) DOCTOR AT KANYINYA HEALTH CENTRE, DAVID TURATSINZE, SAYING: "They help us to decrease or reduce the risk of transmission.

And that means from staff and in from patients to staff.

Let's say, before we had them, we would visit between two to three or four times a day per patient, but now at least, we now do up to two visits a day.

That tells you how helpful they are and what impact they have made in terms of reducing the number of visits to patients." The sleek white robots with big bright blue eyes carry out simple tasks like: take temperatures, monitor patients, take readings of vitals, and deliver video messages and feedback between doctors and patients.

Officials said the bots will be programmed to carry out additional tasks as well.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) BIO-MECHANICAL ENGINEER FRANCINE UMUTESI, SAYING: "If you program them, they can take a tray to a patient with products you want to bring to the patient, they can bring them, but for now we are using them for those tasks." The robots were donated by the United Nations Development Program.

Rwanda already uses drones to deliver blood and enforce restrictions designed to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

There are two more robots at the country's other COVID-19 treatment center, Nyamata, in southeast Kigali.