Battling coronavirus: Aarogya Setu key to India’s Covid-19 arsenal (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 2: Health
Prelims level: Aarogya Setu
Mains level: Role of technology in healthcare system

Context:

• The government tracing 300 emerging Covid-19 hotspots in the country from Aarogya Setu data is proof of how crucial the app is to India’s fight against the pandemic.
• There are only 10 crore downloads against 30 crore smartphones in the country only shows how much more room we have for efficiency in contact-tracing.
• As present scenario, the government used syndromic mapping using a string of data from self-assessment, contact tracing, and historical patterns to identify hotspots at the sub-post office level.

Aarogya Setu is still key to India’s Covid-19 arsenal:

• It has been able to contact-trace 1,00,000 people from 12,500 tested individuals, and have 10,000 tests conducted with an efficacy rate of 23%.
• Besides, as economic activity .......................................

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More on the technology front:

• The government has done well to release app guidelines and information to reinforce trust, but it needs to do more on the technology front if it is to drive adoption.
• At present, the app only records your activity, but does not provide maps for hotspots or areas where people are quarantined. Nor does it provide information on whether an area is high-risk.
• Although there are plans to incorporate some of these features, this has to be fast-tracked for greater adoption.
• It needs to start bug-bounty programmes and make the code open-source—this is also planned—for people to detect vulnerabilities and alert the government, so that it can ramp up its security infrastructure.

Way forward:

• However, the success of the app will rely on testing. Even if the app can identify potential hotspots, without the requisite testing spread and momentum, it would be impossible for the government to track and trace people.
• So, the government will ..............................

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Conclusion:

• Testing is the key, Aarogya Setu can be used to build upon it.

Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

Prelims Questions:

Q1. With reference to the Luhman 16, consider the following statements:
1. Luhman 16 is a binary star system, the third closest system to the Sun after Alpha Centauri and Barnard’s star.
2. Brown dwarfs are also called failed stars, because their masses are intermediate to the largest planets and the smallest main sequence stars.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer: ...............................

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Mains Questions:
Q1. Aarogya Setu App is the key to Covid-19 fight, ...........................................