New Delhi: As the coronavirus continues to creep across the country, the Aarogya Setu app has given a big push to India's digital fight against coronavirus pandemic.
In an exclusive interview with ETV Bharat, Director General of National Informatics Centre (NIC) Dr Neeta Verma said that Aarogya Setu app can be used by the citizens to assess their chances of getting infected by the deadly coronavirus.
Director General of National Informatics Centre Dr Neeta Verma in an exclusive interview with ETV Bharat "It's a state of the art technology to fight against COVID-19," said Dr Verma.
More than 110 million people across India have downloaded the Aarogya Setu app. In fact, the central government, as well as state governments, have also made it mandatory for people to download Aarogya Setu app while travelling.
The app has been developed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and NIC as a mobile application for contact tracing and dissemination of medical advisories to contain the spread of COVID-19.
"The personnel data collected by the App is encrypted using state of the art technology and data are secure in the phone till it is needed for facilitating medical intervention," said Verma.
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She said that people have understood the importance of Aarogya Setu app and that's why more and more people are downloading the app.
It was on April 2, the Government launched the app. Subsequently, it was made mandatory for those employed in private and public offices.
The data from the app is also helpful for the government to identify emerging hot spots as 616 potential hotspots, where corrective actions were required, had been identified by the app.
"Aarogya Setu is available on both iOS and Android. The app is currently available in 12 languages," Dr Verma said.
Giving more details, Dr Verma said that the app requires users to submit their geodata and utilise Bluetooth to connect their registered users on the network.
"The collected data then gets analysed whether the user has come in contact with any person who tested positive for the virus, and directs them for appropriate medical intervention," Dr Verma said.
Read: Lockdown 4.0: Aarogya Setu app must for employees, work from home should be encouraged
It is to be mentioned here that general data gets deleted within 30 days, and the data related to the infected people removed within 45-60 days.
However, to stop leakage of data security, the government, on May 11, has introduced data processing guidelines for Aaragya Setu and added clauses that include potential imprisonment for people found misusing the data.
Interestingly, in view of the fact that only 24 per cent of Indians have access to smartphone technology.
The government has also launched a toll-free IVR based 1921 number, which could help even the landline users to get the help of technology to fight COVID-19.
Also Read: AAI asks air passengers to mandatorily download Aarogya Setu app, carry hand sanitiser
