Govt. of India launches Aarogya Setu, to track COVID-19 patient

The Government of India has officially launched its COVID-19 tracking app, Aarogya Setu for Android and iOS users. The app has been developed by the National Informatics Center which comes under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. According to the application’s description, its purpose is to “accurately” enhance efforts to inform citizens of “best practices and relevant advice that relate to the inclusion of COVID-19.”

Both the central and state governments have started hosting coronavirus-related apps in the last few weeks to curb the spread of the epidemic in the country.

The Aarogya Setu (which translates from Sanskrit as a bridge to health) essentially helps users find out if they are at risk of a coronavirus infection by checking if they have a COVID -19 are in contact with an infected person, also unknowingly.

As per news source, Aarogya Setu is using government databases of infected people to do the work. However, there is no clarity on this from the government.

The COVID-19 tracker app currently supports 11 languages including Hindi and English and requires Bluetooth and location to function. To use the Aarogya Setu app, users must first register with their mobile number. After completing the first step, the app asks users for their credit which is optional. 

For those concerned about the app’s privacy policy, the government claims that the stored data is “encrypted” and will not be shared with any third-party vendors.