Aarogya Setu remains among top 10 downloaded apps globally in May: NITI Aayog CEO

Aarogya Setu remains among top 10 downloaded apps globally in May: NITI Aayog CEO

New Delhi: Aarogya Setu, a government app developed for tracking COVID-19 patients, retained its position as one of the top 10 downloaded mobile apps in the world in May, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said on Saturday, June 6.

The Centre has made the app mandatory for government employees to bolster efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Aarogya Setu one of the top 10 downloaded mobile apps globally since launch, the second month in running. India has led the way in effectively leveraging technology to combat the COVID-19 pandemic,” Kant said in a tweet.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address to the nation on April 14 appealed to people to download the app, which alerts people if any known person or person in their vicinity has tested positive.

The app was developed under a committee set up by the Prime Minister’s Office with the active involvement of NITI Aayog and the Ministry of Electronics and IT.

Lockdown 4: Govt highlights advantage of Aarogya Setu, but stops short of making it compulsory in new guidelines

Lockdown 4: Govt highlights advantage of Aarogya Setu, but stops short of making it compulsory in new guidelines

New Delhi: The government appears to have made Aarogya Setu optional, scaling down its earlier directive that had made it compulsory for several categories of people to download the mobile app which monitors the spread of coronavirus.

In fresh guidelines issued Sunday on lockdown 4.0, the government has focused on the advantage of the app saying it enables for early identification of potential risk of infection and thus acts as a shield for individuals and the community.

“With a view to ensuring safety in offices and workplaces, employers on best effort basis should ensure that Aarogya Setu is installed by all employees having compatible mobile phones,” it said.

In its May 1 guidelines, the government had said “use of Aarogya Setu app shall be mandatory for all employees, both private and public. It shall be the responsibility of the head of the respective organization to ensure 100 percent coverage of the app among the employees”.

Sunday’s guidelines also said district authorities “may advise” individuals to install the app on compatible mobile phones and regularly update their health status as this will facilitate timely provisions of medical attention to those individuals who are at risk.

The last guidelines had said that the local authority “shall ensure 100 percent coverage of Aarogya Setu app among the residents of containment zones”, a point no more mentioned in the latest one.

Early this month, a French hacker and cybersecurity expert who goes by the name Elliot Alderson had claimed that “a security issue has been found” in the app and that “privacy of 90 million Indians is at stake”.

The government had categorically rejected this claim saying no data or security breach has been identified in the app and “no personal information of any user has been proven to be at risk by this ethical hacker”.

“We are continuously testing and upgrading our systems. Team Aarogya Setu assures everyone that no data or security breach has been identified,” the government had said through the app’s Twitter handle.

COVID-19: 7 things you need to know about “Aarogya Setu” – Govt’s tracker app

COVID-19: 7 things you need to know about “Aarogya Setu” – Govt’s tracker app

As India is fighting COVID-19 pandemic with the rest of the world, in order to provide the information about COVID-19, the government of India has launched an app, Aarogya Setu that is developed by the Ministry of Electronics and information Technology.

Here are the 6 things you need to know about this app.

1. Location Tracking:

This app tracks the user’s current location and shows if there is any person is infected with COVID-19 in the locality through Bluetooth.

With this feature, the government will also know the details of people who came and contact with COVID-19 positive patients.

2. Security:

This app does not share user’s data with any third party. Only government of India will be able to track the user’s details. The mobile number or name of any user will not be visible to public.

3. Chatbot:

Arogya Sethu has a Chatbot that help users to know more information about symptoms and answers few frequeently asked questions.

4. Helpline numbers:
The app is built in with helpline numbers of all the states incase of any emergency.

5. Latest Updates:

The users will be able to view the tweets of Health Ministry of India. Any latest updates, preventive measures, risks or live news about COVID-19 will be updated in the app. Information about how to stay safe, social distancing, Do’s and Don’ts are also available in the app.

6. Multi-Language support:

In an attempt to make people better understand COVID-19, the app works in 11 major languages including English, Hindi, Gujrati, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, Tamil, Bangla, Marathi, Odia, and Punjabi.

7. Registration:

The user have to download the app from Android Playstore or iOS store and has to register by providing mobile number and name.