The district administration of Palghar in Maharashtra carried out an experiment, in which it used a drone to deliver COVID-19 vaccine doses in a remote village situated in rugged terrain, its top official said.

The experiment, which was successfully carried out on Thursday, is probably the first of its kind in the state, district collector Dr Manik Gursal, who coordinated in the trial, said.

"As part of the exercise, a batch of 300 vaccines was transported from Jawhar to Zaap village. The task, which would have otherwise taken more than 40 minutes, was completed in just a little over nine minutes. The vaccines were delivered at the local public health centre," the district administration said in a release issued on Friday.

The distance between the two points is around 20 kms, an official said.

District health officer Dr Dayanand Suryavanshi said this could become possible with the help of private entities that came forward to help.

"This will go a long way in the vaccination drive as the doses can now easily be sent to the doorsteps of those villagers, who find it difficult to reach the inoculation centres. To some extent, it will also help remove the misconceptions related to vaccination from the minds of people," he said.