How does the Aarogya Setu mobile application work? Image Courtesy – https://www.enterhindi.com
Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently announced in his message through the All India Radio programme ‘Maan Ki Baat’ about the application ‘Aarogya Setu’. He said that every citizen should download the app to help the government fight against COVID-19. It is a COVID-19 tracking mobile application prepared by the ‘National Informatics Centre’, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India.
Let us explain how the app creates a user database of information, forming a network that can notify both the citizens and the government about the potential victims of coronavirus.
This application can be downloaded from both Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store. It utilises location data to point out people who have come in contact with a Covid-19 positive patient. The application works by accessing your location and your Bluetooth for proper functioning.
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After providing the above permissions, the app requests some basic information that helps to reconstruct the database about the users. There are some questions about the user’s age, gender, name, health status and history of travel to any country in the past few weeks, etc. The application also verifies the category of profession. Then it asks a question if the user will be wishing to help in times of need.
A self-assessment questionnaire is to be put forward in the next step, where a user is asked about his/her current health status and also their questions about current symptoms of COVID-19. There are some questions for those who are doctors. The users are to declare whether their travel history has exposed them to COVID-19 patients or not. After getting the inputs from the user, the app then suggests a solution.
The considers the Bluetooth range of the smartphone as an accessibility sensor for some specific distances like 500m, 1km, 2km, 5km, 10km, under which the user can be infected by another person who is Covid-19 positive. When 2 smartphones come within their Bluetooth range, the app exchanges information. If any of the users is positive, the other person will be notified about the chance of being infected. These specific cases are then stored in the database and are sent to the government for further investigation.
