Govt dismisses privacy concerns with Aarogya Setu, assures data of 9 cr people safe

The government's mobile application 'Aarogya Setu' app has been helping immensely to curb the spread of the Coronavirus crisis. The COVID-19 contact-tracing app is also the safest application and was designed keeping the user’s privacy in mind, said Ajay Sawhney, Chairman of Empowered Group-9 which handles technology and data management for fighting the pandemic.

Concerns surrounding the privacy and security of the app has been questioned by the opposition parties, was addressed in the health briefing on Monday.

"A lot of work was done over data privacy... Aarogya Setu app will continue to play a crucial role in India's fight against COVID-19. The app has been developed in order to alert people before they come in contact with infected patients, it also enables self-assessment," Sawhney said in a press conference.

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Sawhney said that the travel history of positive patients is combined with the self-assessment data submitted by users, which allows the application to identify potential hotspot areas and prompt the user upon entering high-risk zones. Information on 697 such hotspot areas identified by the application has been sent to states, he added.

"A unique anonymous randomised ID is generated for the device of a new user, only this ID is used, name of the user is not used by the app," he further said.

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‘Aarogya Setu app registers 9 crore downloads’

The government app for tracking coronavirus patients has recorded close to 90 million (9 crores) downloads as of May 5 and is being updated with features like telemedicine, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said. The Centre has made it mandatory for all citizens to use Aarogya Setu mobile application to bolster the efforts to fight COVID-19 pandemic and entrusted the organizational heads with ensuring its 100 per cent coverage.

"The Aaroygya Setu app has close to 90 million downloads till date & is being regularly updated, with feature like telemedicine being added," Kant told reporters in a media briefing.

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The mobile application helps users identify whether they are at risk of COVID-19 infection. It also provides people with important information, including ways to avoid coronavirus infection. Kant, who also heads the Empowered Group 6 on coordinating with private sector NGOs and international organizations to tackle coronavirus outbreak, said the panel has mobilised more than 92,000 NGOs/CSOs registered on NGO Darpan.

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(With inputs from agencies)