Drone checks on beaches postponed due to bad weather.

A contentious plan to use a drone to measure the body temperatures of bathers at beaches along the Ostia coast near Rome this weekend has been called off due to bad weather.

The move, announced yesterday by the ASL Roma 3 local health authority as part of efforts to detect covid-19, had been scheduled between 11.00 and 16.00 on the weekend of 4-5 September.

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The drone was to hover at a height of "not less than 25 metres from the water level and at a distance of not less than 30 metres from people", with doctors on hand to intervene once a person with a high temperature had been located.

The move was called off last night but not before causing a storm of controversy on social media.

It is not known if and when the measure will be rescheduled.