[ad_1]
Image: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India
The Indian government announced on Friday that all workers, in both the public and private sectors, should install the nation’s COVID-19 contact tracking app as it begins to ease some of its blocking measures to lower risk areas.
Similarly, residents living in “containment zones” are also required to download the application and cannot leave these areas except for medical emergencies and to maintain the supply of essential goods and services.
According to the Interior Ministry, local authorities in these “containment areas” are applying intensified surveillance protocols, including contact tracing, house-to-house surveillance, as well as the household and institutional quarantine of individuals based on your risk assessment.
These zones are the “most sensitive areas of the country, from the diffusion of the COVID-19 point of view,” he said.
Responsibility for ensuring that employees and people living in “Containment Zones” install the app will be placed on the head of organizations and local authorities, respectively, the Interior Ministry said.
Called Aarogya Setu, the app launched last month and alerts users who may have come into contact with people who have contracted COVID-19 or are considered high risk. Since its launch, it has been downloaded more than 50 million times on Android devices, according to data from the Google Play Store.
The same day, the government also announced that it would extend the blockade for another two weeks, but would allow for “considerable relaxation” of restrictions in lower risk areas.
The reopening of the offices will be allowed, but they must implement measures such as gaps between shifts, staggered lunches and thermal scanning, among others.
Meanwhile, people operating in areas not as deeply affected by the coronavirus pandemic, called “Green Zones,” will be able to resume all activities from 7 a.m. at 7 p.m., except those that are still prohibited across the country.
These include air, rail, subway, and interstate highway travel; the operation of schools, colleges and other educational institutions; hospitality services, including hotels and restaurants; enter large public gathering places, such as movie theaters, shopping malls, gyms, and sports complexes; and entering public places of worship.
Australia and Singapore have similarly released their own versions of the app in recent months, and the UK is making preparations to do the same in the coming weeks.
Critics of digital contact tracking have said such applications are unlikely to replace or substantially improve the urgent detective job that requires a lot of contact tracking work.
“The appeal of automating the painstaking process of contact tracing is obvious. But to date, no one has shown that it can be done reliably despite numerous simultaneous attempts,” researchers and academics at the Brookings Institution said.
At the time of writing this article, the World Health Organization reported that there have been almost 3.3 million confirmed cases, with almost 240,000 deaths as a result of the virus. India has reported almost 40,000 cases and more than 1,300 deaths.
