Zipline Surpasses 2,500 COVID Samples Delivered by Drone in Ghana

Zipline's drone network in Ghana has crossed a major milestone: 2,537 suspected COVID-19 samples were transported across 440 drone flights from 10 districts nationwide, as of June 2021. Average delivery time shrank to roughly 39 minutes, compared to about 117 minutes for standard ground transport.

A national operation, not a local trial

This marks a direct continuation of a partnership signed in 2019 between Zipline and Ghana's Ministry of Health, which made drone delivery of medicines and medical samples a permanent part of the national health system. Unlike isolated pilots seen elsewhere in the world, this is operational infrastructure that has already been running for two years, and is now handling the strain of a global pandemic.

Zipline's fixed-wing drones take off from distribution hubs and drop shipments by parachute at marked landing points near rural clinics. Many of these clinics suffer from chronic road accessibility problems, an issue that becomes especially acute during the rainy season.

• Number of suspected COVID samples transported: 2,537
• Number of drone flights: 440
• Number of districts covered: 10
• Average drone delivery time: about 39 minutes
• Average ground delivery time: about 117 minutes
• Start of partnership with the Ministry of Health: 2019

Why does the gap between 39 and 117 minutes determine patients' fate?

In COVID testing, time is a critical variable. The difference between one hour and two hours in getting a sample to a lab can determine whether a patient begins immediate treatment or continues infecting others while the result is still in transit. Officials in Ghana's health system note that shorter delivery times have practically contributed to faster treatment and diagnostic decisions, particularly in areas where the distance from a clinic to the central lab can take hours by car on dirt roads.

Rwanda as a comparison model

Ghana is not Zipline's first African market. The company has operated a similar network in Rwanda since 2016, and the two networks together position the company as a national health infrastructure provider in two African countries, not as a small-scale experimental operator. While commercial drone delivery in most of the world remains stuck at the stage of limited local trials, Zipline is running a volume of flights at national scale that also includes vaccine distribution, not just test samples.

The question that remains open is economic: how replicable is such a model in countries without a direct partnership with a government ministry subsidizing operations, and what will the business model look like once the pandemic recedes from the urgent health agenda?