Govt to call 900m people to check for virus symptoms

New Delhi: The government will soon call nearly 900 million people to check if they have symptoms of the Covid-19 infection, as it steps up its contact tracing efforts through the Aarogya Setu app. The app, developed by the government, will be expanded to all feature phone users, with the Centre planning to partner with telecom operators Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone-Idea, who will enable calls to their subscribers, a top official told ET. There are around 550 million feature phone users in the country.The Ministry of Home Affairs, in its order on Friday which extended the lockdown till May 17, mandated that the local authority shall ensure 100% coverage of Aarogya Setu app of residents within the Containment Zone. The voice calls, which will be in all Indian languages, will use an Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) from a central helpline number – 1921. The IVRS call will check for symptoms and local health authorities will be alerted about those who report any, Abhishek Singh, CEO of MyGov told ET.75497732 “All smartphone users who have not yet downloaded the application will also be getting notifications from their service providers to download it,” Singh added.So far, around 80 million people have installed the app, which alerts users if they come in contact with a Covid-19 positive person, using the GPS location and Bluetooth on their devices. The Aarogya Setu team has adopted a two-pronged strategy to reach out to millions of feature phone users, Arnab Kumar, program director of NITI Aayog told ET. “The team is also in advanced testing stage of Aarogya Setu app on Jio Phones which operates on Kai OS that is capable of running certain apps,” Kumar said. Through this initiative, the government hopes to reach out to 100-150 million Jio users as well. Through the pan-India roll-out of the IVRS, where subscribers can discuss their medical condition on a toll-free number and be provided suitable medical intervention, the entire population will be covered, he added. Based on feedback from the app, the medical team of Ayushman Bharat is reaching out to people who have self-declared symptoms to provide medical intervention. Over 75,000 calls have been made so far. The Centre has made downloads of Aarogya Setu compulsory for its employees. According to a government order on Wednesday, all central government employees and those with PSUs (public sector undertakings) and autonomous bodies should review their “status” on the app before reaching office. Earlier this week, it also ordered that migrant labourers and other stranded people being shifted to their home states should also “be encouraged to download the app through which their health status can be tracked and monitored”. However, privacy activists have raised concerns over the mandatory nature of the downloads.

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