Aarogya Setu App- As you might already be familiar with the most perilous disease of all time – the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID- 19), which has its origins from Wuhan, the capital of China’s Hubei province, was first identified in December, 2019. Later on, as it spread more around the world succumbing people to death, it was declared as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on 30 January 2020 and as a pandemic on 11 March 2020 by the World Health Organization (WHO). As of 10 April 2020, the disease has already taken the lives of 96,700 people with more than 1.61 million reported cases.

In these difficult times, the government of all the badly affected countries is taking all the necessary measures in order to control the spread of the disease. The Government of India is also taking all the possible steps possible such as declaring a lockdown in the whole country, providing food and money ration to the poor, taking all the possible steps to spread awareness about the prevention, causes, symptoms, etc via different media platforms, etc. One such step towards it, is the launching of Aarogya Setu app developed by the National Informatics Center and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

What is Aarogya Setu app?

Aarogya Setu is a health, fitness and a mobile tracking app launched by the Government of India on 1^st April 2020. It was developed in order to connect citizens of India with the essential health services. The app aims at proactively reaching out to the people and inform them about the symptoms, risks, preventive measures, and releavant advisories regarding the infectious disease – COVID 19. As of April 10, the app was the most downloaded app on the Apple’s App Store in the health and fitness category and has over 10 million downloads on the Google’s Play Store. The app is developed for one other reason – to test and track information pertaining to COVID 19.

The app is made using specially curated algorithms and artificial intelligence. The app uses the ICMR (Indian Council Of Medical Research) database in order to calculate the risk of users being affected by the disease. It will alert the user if he/she has come in close proximity of, even unknowingly positive COVID-19 cases. The user will also be informed what to do and whom to contact in case he/she develops the symptoms.

Features of Aarogya Setu app

There are not too many features in the app right now but we’ll cover all those which are available.

• The app supports total 11 languages which include English, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Oriya, and Bengali and it is expected to support more regional languages soon.
• The app is available for both Android and iOS devices.
• It tries to determine the risk of disease in the user by taking a test by asking some information about the user such as gender, age, etc. It also asks a series of questions such as:

1. Are you experiencing any of the Fever, Difficulty in breathing, Cold, symptoms ?
2. Have you ever had Diabetes, Hypertension, Lung disease, Heart disease ?
3. Have you travelled internationally in the last 14 days ?
4. Have you recently stayed or come in contact with someone who tested positive for the disease ?
5. Are you a health worker and examined a positive COVID-19 case without protective gear?

• It uses GPS and Bluetooth technologies in order to calculate the risk.
• It offers a family support option in iOS wherein upto 6 family members can use this app when Family Sharing enabled.
• It provides a ‘Share App’ sharing option using which users can share about the application to others.
• It provides some Do’s and Dont’s, saftey measures, precautionary steps to be followed during this time.
• It gives info about the official account details of the PM Cares Fund so that users who wish to donate can do so without searching here and there on the Internet.
• It provides some instructions about how to self-isolate onself by social distancing or keeping a distance of about 6m from a person.
• If a user wants to learn more about the disease, then the option of ‘Learn More about COVID-19’ is also provided.
• The app also provides some Helpdesk numbers in iOS devices.

Also Read- Best Coronavirus Tracking Apps

When to use Aarogya Setu app ?

The app can be used whenever the user wishes to use. But it should be used atleast once after downloading to see your risk of getting affected by the disease so that you know how much care you need to take. It should be used to learn and share about the symptoms, measures to be taken, and self-caring tips. It should be used as frequently as you can or whenever you go out or come in contact with people.

How to use Aarogya Setu app ?

You can use the app as mentioned below:

Step 1- Firstly download the app from the App Store or the Play Store according your device and then open it.

Step 2- You’ll be asked to give permission to access your location. Give it that permission.

Step 3- After that, you’ll be asked to select a language. Select one from the given options.

Step 4- Then register yourself by entering your phone number. A One-time-password (OTP) will be sent on the entered number, enter that OTP.

Step 5- Choose your gender from the given options.

Step 6- Then enter your full-name, age and profession.

Step 7- Then answer accordingly if you’ve a recent travel history.

Step 8- Then it’ll ask you whether you would like to volunteer in times of need or not.

Step 9- Then it’ll start testing by asking you series of questions.

Step 10- After that you can simply navigate through the app.

How to download Aarogya Setu app on Android?

Follow the below steps to download the app on an Android Device:

Step 1- Go to the Google’s Play Store.

Download

Step 2- Search for Aarogya Setu app in the search bar.

Step 3- Click the icon with a orange heart and a green tick.

Step 4- Start the download by clicking on the Download option.

Step 5- Once downloaded, you’ll find the app on the homescreen, run it.

How to download Aarogya Setu app on iOS Device?

Follow the below steps to download the app on an iOS Device:

Step 1- Go to the Apple’s App Store.

Download

Step 2- Search for the Aarogya Setu app in the search bar.

Step 3- Click the icon with a orange heart and a green tick.

Step 4- Start the download by clicking the Download option.

Step 5- Once downloaded, launch the app from the homescreen and you’re done.

Who can use Aarogya Setu app ?

The app can be used by anyone with 3+ age. It can be used by users having device  with Android 5.0 and up or who has a device running on iOS 10.3 or later. The app is compatible with smartphones, tablets, iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.

The app will work only if you give it permission to access your location, data and bluetooth.

Conclusion

This app is one of the great initiative taken by the Government of India which is helping spread awareness and information about this disease which has taken its toll on almost the entire planet. The government will use the data gathered from the app to take proper decisions about managing of lockdown. So the users who download and use the app should enter correct data. The government is doing its bit in protecting the citizens and so we also should understand and maintain the protocol of social distancing as long as possible.