When Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended India’s lockdown till May 3, he also made a forceful plea to citizens asking them to download the Aarogya Setu mobile app to track Covid-19 contact infections, highlighting the fact that without widespread adoption, it may not function as required.
The app, which was launched earlier this month, uses location data and Bluetooth access to identify people who may have wandered close to probable coronavirus patients. Besides the obvious effort to limit the spread of the pandemic, Aarogya Setu also provides a database of relevant public information about the disease.
And, this is where the challenge comes in. When two phones with the app installed come into each other’s Bluetooth range, they exchange information and if one of the users has tested positive for coronavirus, the other gets alerted about a possible infection. And, both cases are notified to government agencies.
Given these inordinate delays, the government last night went ahead and approved the use of made-in-India kits alongside those imported from China, South Korea, France and Germany. The recent order from India’s Supreme Court on making rapid tests mandatory and free for socially underprivileged who were insured under a low-cost health policy adds a sense of urgency to the issue.
Which means that till the rapid testing spreads wider across the urban clusters and moves into the hinterland, the Aarogya Setu app may not have the data to help users ascertain whether they did maintain social distancing or not.