New Delhi: Going ahead in its fight against COVID-19 pandemic, the central government on Wednesday has further strengthened its IT gadgets by incorporating the Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) in the Aarogya Setu app. The Aarogya Setu app which was launched by the Union Health Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in support from Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT) as an online tool to fight against COVID-19, has been downloaded by more than 9 crore people in last few days across India.
"For including the citizens with feature phones and landlines under the protection of Aarogya Setu, the Aarogya Setu Interactive Voice Response System has been implemented. This service is available across the country. This is a toll-free service where citizens are asked to give a missed call to the number 1921 and they will get a call back requesting for inputs regarding their health," officials associated with the development said.
Aarogya Setu enables people to assess themselves the risk of their catching the coronavirus infection. It will calculate this based on their interaction with others, using cutting edge Bluetooth technology, algorithms and artificial intelligence. "All the citizens are urged to download the mobile application. This is designed to keep a user informed in case he or she cross paths with someone who has tested positive," the official said.
In the Aarogya Setu app users are asked a few questions and in case some of the answers suggest COVID-19 symptoms, the information will be sent to a government server. The data will then help the government take timely steps and initiate the isolation process.
In the IVRS system, the users will be asked a few questions aligned with Aarogya Setu app and based on the response given, citizens will also get an SMS indicating their health status and also will get further alerts for their health. The service is implemented in 11 regional languages similar to mobile applications. The input provided by the citizen will be made part of Aarogya Setu database. It may be mentioned here that Government has made it mandatory for all government and private sector employees to download Aarogya Setu app in their mobile.
Earlier in the day, the government has also made it clear that the Aarogya Setu app has no vulnerability and neither its data nor security breach has happened. The government gave the clarification after a French security researcher Robert Baptiste, pointed out that it could potentially leak data of the nearly 9 crore users who have downloaded the app.
"No personnel information of any user has been proved to be at risk by the ethical hacker," the government said in a clarification.
Also, read: SC sentences 3 people for making scandalous allegations against judges
