Published 08:09 IST, October 14th 2020
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus hails Aarogya Setu for tracing COVID-19
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has hailed Aarogya Setu app for its role in tracking COVID-19 and helping authorities with target testing.
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WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has hailed Aarogya Setu app for its role in tracking COVID-19 clusters and helping authorities to target test the populations. Launched in April, the Aarogya Setu app is Central government's primary tool for tracing and tracking people with COVID-19 infection. Highlighting that Aarogya Setu has over 150 million users, Ghebreyesus said that the app has aided public health authorities significantly.
"Aarogya Setu app from India has been downloaded by 150 million users, and has helped city public health departments to identify areas where clusters could be anticipated and expand testing in a targeted way," said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a media briefing.
About Aarogya Setu
The COVID-19 tracing app, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi back in April for Android and iOS users, has received a great response from people. The Aarogya Setu app has been developed by the National Informatics Centre under the leadership of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. The application primarily helps users identifying if they were at the risk of contracting the infection.
In a sperate statement earlier, Ghebreyesus ruled out herd immunity strategy as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, calling it scientifically and ethically problematic. Speaking at a media briefing of October 12, the WHO Director-General said that the concept of herd immunity is used for vaccination and not for exposing people to the virus.
The WHO official stated that herd immunity has never in the history of public health been used as a strategy for responding to a virus outbreak, as per reports. Elaborating on the issues surrounding herd immunity, Ghebreyesus said that there is not enough information about immunity, adding that they don’t know the longevity and strength of the immune response developed within the few weeks in people infected with COVID-19.
(Image Credits - AP)
08:09 IST, October 14th 2020