Story By: John Feng, Sub-Editor:  Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report

This is the moment a desperate Chinese homeowner who is only allowed to leave his high-rise flat once per day sends his drone downstairs to buy cigarettes.

Chen Da, 38, from Lucheng District in Wenzhou City in East China’s Zhejiang Province, turned to the flying toy when making the critical decision about how and when to use his daily pass.

Instead of wasting his pass on a quick trip to his nearby corner shop, Mr Chen contacted the shopkeeper to make his order – two packets of cigarettes – and then flew his DJI Phantom downstairs.

Footage of the ingenious shopping technique shows his drone’s propellers firing up as it buzzes over Mr Chen’s balcony railings and down the side of the tower block.

In a video from a camera attached to the drone, the machine can be seen flying to the ground below where the corner shop’s owner is waiting with his order.

She drops the cigarettes in a basket at the bottom of the drone, which flies back to Mr Chen’s balcony to complete the remote-controlled journey on 8th February.

Mr Chen is believed to have paid for his goods using a cashless transfer on Chinese messaging application WeChat.

Zhejiang is the third-worst hit province in China, where the Wuhan coronavirus has killed more than 1,000 individuals so far.

Many major cities remain on lockdown or have put restrictions on the movements of residents, including allowing only one member of each household to leave gated communities to shop for essentials every day.

More than 42,600 people have been infected by the respiratory disease so far.

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