After PM Modi’s announcement of nationwide lockdown for 21 days, people have gathered around in public places and have involved into comprehensive panic buying, despite the state and central government’s assurance of arrangements made for the supply of essential items.

The Modi govt is trying its best to contain the coronavirus pandemic in a country like India, which is full of daily wage workers and immensely dense population.

Not just this, state governments around the country are providing free food services to the daily wage labourers and the poor section of the country, free of cost, understanding that this section of the nation is hit rather poorly as compared to the others.

Amidst such a scenario, in order to spread awareness among the citizens, PM Modi has launched a new app that will help people track Covid-19 infections more accurately and effectively.

The app has been developed by the National Informatics Centre that comes under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

How Does the App Work?

The ‘Aarogya Setu’ tracking app is already available on Google Playstore on Android and App Store on iPhones.

This app will help track the coronavirus infection by using the smartphone’s GPS system and Bluetooth and provide information that will help in determining if you have been near a Covid-19 infected person or not.

The application determines if you are at risk by scanning through a database of known cases across India, and also via location.

Also, since data encryption is a ‘must’ parameter, the app uses your location to know your area and check if you are around infected areas of the database and also needs an activated Bluetooth to determine if you have been within six feet from the infected person.

This Aarogya Setu app supports 11 languages.
On downloading this app, you’ll have to register your mobile number, after which the app will has an option to enter your health stats and other credentials.

Once you are into the app, the app will scan your location and share the your data with the government in case you’ve been tested positive for coronavirus or have been in close contact with a person who was tested positive.

Additional Services by the Aarogya Setu App

Apart from performing these activities, he app also has a dedicated a chatbot that asks you a series of questions to determine if you have any symptoms of Covid-19.

Along with this, the app will also inform you about the various facilities and update from the health ministry along with a series of helpline numbers nationally and state-wise.

With the launch of this app, the governments seeks to limit the spread of the Covid-19 cases in India via technology and AI as well as, help create self awareness among the citizens with relevant information on the infection.

Currently, according to health ministry, the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases have surged to 1965, including 1764 active cases, while the death toll has reached 50 in the country.