WHO chief talks about Aarogya Setu app, says 15 cr people downloaded it

Geneva: Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the World Health Organisation Director General, credited the government’s Covid-19 contact tracing app Aarogya Setu for helping state public health departments to identify clusters and expand testing.

In WHO’s latest media briefing, Ghebreyesus emphasised on the need to implement “tried and tested public health tools” like self-isolation and contract tracing to break the chain of Covid-19 transmission and said technologies like mobile applications were making these tools more “effective”. “The Aarogya Setu application in India that has been downloaded by 150 million users” is one such technology, he said.

“Aarogya Setu has helped city public departments to identify areas where clusters could be anticipated and increase Covid-19 testing in a targeted way,” Ghebreyesus said.

The Indian government launched the Aarogya Setu contact tracking app in April to alert users when they come in close contact with a Covid-19 infected person. The app also makes users aware if they have chances to get infected with the virus. The World Bank had also praised Aarogya Setu app and India’s effort in building the contact tracking application.

Other than India, Ghebreyesus mentioned contract tracing applications from countries like Germany (Corona Warn app) and United Kingdom (NHS’s Covid-19 app) among others that have aided healthcare systems in tracing probable infected persons.

He also highlighted that the WHO was working with these countries to evaluate the effectiveness of their digital applications.

Before this, WHO chief had praised India’s efforts in containing the spread of coronavirus in Mumbai’s Dharavi slum, saying that despite the outbreak being very intense, it was brought under control.