The Aarogya Setu app, a mobile application that was launched by the Government of India for protecting the citizens during COVID-19, has now been lauded by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The Aarogya Setu app, a mobile application that was launched by the Government of India for protecting the citizens during COVID-19, has now been lauded by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
In WHO's latest media briefing, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus credited India's Covid-19 contact tracing app for helping state public health departments to identify clusters and expand testing.
He emphasised the need to implement "tried and tested public health tools" including self-isolation and contract tracing to break the COVID-19 transmission chain and said technologies like mobile applications were making these tools more "effective".
"Aarogya Setu app from India has been downloaded by 150 million users, and has helped city public health departments to identify areas where clusters could be anticipated and expand testing in a targeted way," Dr Tedros said at the briefing.
Earlier in April, the app was praised by the World Bank.
"Digital technologies can also be used to monitor the spread of Covid-19. Such initiatives, largely voluntary, have been successful in helping combat the pandemic in East Asia. Incentives also can be provided to those who report symptoms. India recently launched an app, Aarogya Setu, that uses location data from persons’ smartphones to tell users if they have been near someone who tested positive for Covid-19," it had said.
Developed by the National Informatics Centre, the Aarogya Setu app has been designed in order to make proper health data on testing and contact tracing available to health professionals and administrators.
The app has been developed in order to alert people before they come in contact with infected patients, it also enables self-assessment.
The app is available in 11 languages.
Recently, the Ministry of Electronics and Information (MeitY) had also made a version of the Aarogya Setu app for Jio feature phones to increase its awareness.
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