Prime Minister Narendra Modi has, on Tuesday, addressed the nation during which he announced that the nationwide lockdown has been extended till May 3rd as the country has been reeling to stem the spread of Coronavirus in its territory. Apart from the announcement of the lockdown extension, Modi's address has filled up some of the takeaways and advisories to the people and one such advisory is to use 'Aarogya Setu' mobile application.

In his address, Modi has appealed to the people to download the contact tracing 'Aarogya Setu' application. Let's see what has it got that it needs a recommendation from the Prime Minister himself and how the mobile application helps in combating the virus. The virtual weapon has been designed and launched by the Ministry of Human Resource Development on April 3rd and it is associated with Digital India for the health and well-being of every Indian. The app aims to track the community transmission, tracing the travel and contact histories of the individuals who have been quarantined, suspected, and infected by the virus.

According to the reports, the application has specifically been built to contain the spread of the pandemic and it would provide information to the common people concerning the outbreak. It will also help in locating the positive cases affected by the virus living nearby. Upon installing, the app would quiz the user whether he/she has a cough, breathing difficulty, or a fever and if the user declares with no symptoms, he/she would stay under the green zone. This contact tracing app uses Bluetooth and the location tracking technology in smartphones.

Whenever the user visits a crowded place, this application would keep sending the messages from the nearby mobile phones through Bluetooth. The user will be under the green zone if he/she stands near the other person who was asymptomatic and if that person tests positive for the virus later, this app would alert the user immediately following which he/she can undergo checks and testing for the pandemic. Through turning on the location, this app would let the user know about the hotspots for the virus leaving them to change their routes or to use detours.

The application would keep track of the individuals who have either been symptomatic or been tested positive for the virus. The information entered in the application would be used by the Central government to track and manage the COVID-19 spread throughout the country. It also offers a self-assessment test for users if they develop any positive symptoms and it will provide instructions on how to self-isolate and what needs to be followed in case of the positive symptoms. It also has the details of the helpline centers to assist the users. The reports have stated that the Aarogya Setu app is available in eleven languages and it has been designed for pan-India usage. Since its launch, it has been downloaded by over one crore people including both iPhone and Android users.

However, some of the privacy-focused groups like the Internet Freedom Foundation had warned that the app is not healthy for privacy. By questioning its compliance with international privacy standards, the foundation has raised concerns about the collection of the information, purpose limitation, transparency, audibility, and data storage. 

Happy to know.

More the downloads, more effective the fight against Coronavirus. https://t.co/aYWxOyV4Qi

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 14, 2020

As per the union ministry, this application would make calculations based on interactions with others through Bluetooth technology, artificial intelligence, and algorithms. The app doesn't allow the name and number of the user to get publicly disclosed. Responding to one of the followers on Twitter, Prime Minister Modi said "More the downloads, more effective the fight against Coronavirus".

To know more about the lockdown, visit: The nationwide lockdown has been extended till May 3rd - Here's what Modi said!

To download the app, visit - https://www.mygov.in/aarogya-setu-app/