The app has been developed by the National Informatics Centre which comes under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
The 'Aarogya Setu' tracking app, which is already available on Google Play Store on Android smartphones and App Store for iPhones, will help track the Covid-19 infection by using the smartphone's GPS system and Bluetooth and provide information that will help in determining if you have been near a Covid-19 infected person or not.
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The application was first spotted by The Next Web which determines if you are at risk by scanning through a database of known cases across India, and also via location.
The app's data is encrypted and it uses your location to know of the area you are around falls under the infected areas of the database. But you will have to ensure that you have activated Bluetooth to determine whether you have been within six feet from the infected person.
The Aarogya Setu app supports 11 languages. Once you have downloaded the app from Google Play Store, you need to register with your mobile number. Then it will ask you to provide your health stats and other credentials. For effective tracking, you need to keep your location and Bluetooth services on.
Once you are into the app, the app will scan your location and share the your data with the government in case you’ve been tested positive for coronavirus or have been in close contact with a person who was tested positive.
Besides this, the app also has a dedicated a chatbot that asks you a series of questions to determine if you have any symptoms of Covid-19 as well as inform you about the various facilities and updates from the health ministry along with a series of helpline numbers nationally and state-wise.
With the launch of this app, the government seeks to limit the spread of the Covid-19 cases in India via technology and AI as well as, help create self awareness among the citizens with relevant information on the infection.
So far, Indian health ministry has connfirmed 1965 Covid-19 cases including 1764 active cases, while the death toll has reached 50 in the country.