The news of lockdown in order to restrict the infectionof COVID-19 virus has been a great initiative against this global issue. Our Prime Minister has been continuously trying to take steps to make this nation free from the fetters of this evil virus. After the lockdown, the Indian government is mobilizing to roll out an application known as CoWin-20, that sums at tracking the restraining the spread of the infection. The app will be made available for all the Android as well as iOS users.
Features of the app CoWin-20
- The app is going to keep a track of person’s travel history.
- The app will have a function to locate the person; however it’s raising privacy concerns.
- Contact tracing feature of the app will assist the government to identify how many people came in contact with virus and what paths and places Covid-19 infected people took.
- List of nearest COVID-19 treatment centers based on location tracking.
- It will use Bluetooth of the device to check if a person has been in COVID-19 effected person.
- The app is going to keep your data encrypted and limited up-to the device.
- Government will send a notification to go for tests to those who’ve been in contact to the positively tested person’s.
- It will notify the authorities if a person under quarantine is roaming around in public.
- Safety recommendations and government advisories will also be a part of the app.
Currently, the CoWin-20 app is in its beta testing phase for both Android and iOS and can be rolled out in upcoming days and will be made available for the whole nation. For Android testing, the app is being provided to a selected group of users while the iOS deviceusers will require to share the device ‘s UDID to the National Informatics Centre for getting a download link that is completely unique.
Few other countries including China has also made their own apps to detect COVID-19 infected patients, where China’s app involve QR code scanning to detect if they were in close contact of the infected person.
Presently, suchstepsand procedures could be the need of the hour to help control the rampant pandemic. However, privacy experts are legitimately asking issues about what happens to the data after the pandemic, and whether these tools will eventually transform ft into tools for gaping on citizens.
Asfor now, the update in the news is that Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharam has announced to provide a package of 1.7 lakhs crores to help the daily wage workers to ensure that they are safe and inside their homes and follow the lockdown.
Another update is direct from the Indian banks that have decided to shut down most of their branches during the situation of lockdown.
