Open Forum
New Delhi, 21 May 2020
Aarogya Setu
NOT ULTIMATE ANSWER
By Dr S. Saraswathi
(Former Director ICSSR, New Delhi)
The Union Home
Ministry has made Aarogya Setu (Bridge to Health) app, a contact tracing app, mandatory for all “returnees” – meaning
migrant labourers and those coming from abroad. The move is intended to
facilitate better contact surveillance in COVID-19 cases which is necessary for
controlling the epidemic and providing timely medical intervention. Passengers
have to download the app on their mobile phones before commencing their
journey.
Aarogya Setu, updated
version of Corona Kavach, which showed nearness to any COVID-19 patient, is the
Indian mobile application developed by National Informatics Centre under
Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and was launched on 2 April
soon after the announcement of lockdown. It is said to be one of the most
effective instruments for COVID-19 tracking. In Maharashtra, it has helped in predicting
a number of hotspots.
It’s a tool of virus
surveillance which is now a global imperative to break the chain of disease transmission.
Omnipresence of viruses across continents and their diversities necessitate
constant updating of information on their movements.
In an order issued on
29 April, the Centre made it compulsory for all employees to download the app on
their mobile phones and use it. They were asked to check the status on the app
before leaving home for office and proceed only if the app showed “safe” or
“low risk”. If the status is shown as “moderate” or “high risk” calculated on
the basis of proximity to a COVID-19 infected person, they should not attend
office and self-isolate for 14 days until their status becomes “safe”. The head
of the organisation is responsible to enforce compliance with the order.
This way, opening
offices is made safe for everyone attending the office. Latest such order has
come from the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir where all government employees
are required to install the app on their mobile phones and produce certificates
to that effect for receiving their salaries. Private companies too are being
brought under Aarogya Setu.
Making it mandatory
for all living in a specific area or working in a specific place is being
considered and even attempted in some places. But, its legality and feasibility
are doubtful. It can be useful optional
tool for persons concerned to keep safe from risk zones, but its effectiveness
in monitoring the disease to prevent its escalation seems limited considering
the fact that not more than 30% of the population owns a smartphone.
While contact tracing
is useful in disease control, Aarogya Setu can only be a supplement to physical
search in the Indian context. It has raised a huge controversy over intrusion
into privacy in these troubled times. While registering, the app collects a set
of personal information that is uploaded to government servers, which then
generate a unique digital identity for that user. The app faces criticisms
similar to other devices like Aadhaar collecting personal data for government
use. Privacy policy of the government comes to be questioned.
A writ petition is
filed in Kerala High Court challenging the constitutionality of government
directive to make Aarogya Setu ‘mandatory for all employees, both private and
public’. In fact, in a recent order on May 17, the Union Home Ministry itself
has softened its position by amending its earlier order saying, employers “on
best effort basis” should ensure that Aarogya Setu is installed by all
employees having compatible mobile phones.
Any pandemic demands
non-medical and social practices as remedies and more so in the absence of a
vaccine. Contact tracing first came into use in a big way in 2003 to fight SARS
and in 2014 for fighting EBOLA. It is necessary to treat sexually transmitted
diseases. In the case of COVID-19, exposure to the infection happens within 6
feet distance for 5 to 10 minutes from an infected person.
Several countries are
competing with one another for developing applications that can trace and
monitor contacts of an infected person – a “detective” work physically done so
far by means of enquiries and searches. It is a laborious and time consuming
process and is made easier and instantaneous by Aarogya Setu.
Already survey and
mapping of red zones showing the size of habitations, population size and
composition, geographic distribution of COVID-19 cases, proximity to other
habitations, accessibility, geographic barriers, mobility in the area are done.
The data can be integrated with Aarogya Setu to get more comprehensive picture
of the areas that need closer watch.
The app can alert us
if anyone we have come in contact has tested positive for Coronavirus even if
he is asymptomatic. Since contact is the main route for spread of the disease,
it is absolutely necessary to trace the affected person’s contacts and bring
everyone of them for testing.
Aarogya Setu lets
users know if they have been near a person with COVID-19 by scanning a database
of known cases of infection. The app calculates the risk of infection based on exposure
time and proximity and recommends measures and collects other particulars like gender,
travel history, habits like smoking, etc.
China has done mass
experiments in using data to regulate citizens’ lives by requiring them to use
a software on their smartphones that dictates whether they should be
quarantined or allowed into subways, malls, and other public places. Thousands
of contact tracers are employed in Wuhan.
South Korea and New
Zealand developed contact tracing methods in connection with Mid East
Respiratory System (MERS) in 2015. Canadian government introduced a nationwide
contact tracing programme using the services of volunteers.
Singapore’s Trace
Together app can be used only by the Health Ministry to access data. It assures
citizens that the data is to be used strictly for disease control and will not
be shared with law enforcement agencies for enforcing lockdowns and quarantine.
In the US, attempts are on in some States to pursue contact tracing. In the UK,
the London Team wants to find out any and all contacts made within a specific
time frame - two days before symptoms through 14 days.
India’s Aarogya Setu,
it is said, will not be publicising the identity of users. No third party will
have access to the data. On the contrary, it alerts users if they come in
contact with a COVID-affected person.
Only those who have a
smartphone are able to use this app, which identifies only symptomatic cases
that have been reported and tested. In India, despite huge publicity to
COVID-19 related news, several cases may go unreported due to fear of
compulsory quarantine, prolonged medical treatment, and fear of social stigma.
So far, about 10
crore people are said to have downloaded the app despite huge controversies
raging over possible threat to data security and right to through this app.
Government has assured that the data stored on servers would be used only for
COVID-19 purposes and would be deleted after 180 days. WHO has recommended
certain surveillance standards.
To the extent contact
tracing can be done through machines, it must be welcome so that it will not go
the way of social distancing openly violated by ignorance and deliberate plan. A
mechanical device can certainly give better results than manual. But, Aarogya Setu
may not be the ultimate answer to this huge task in the prevailing social
conditions. ---INFA
(Copyright, India
News & Feature Alliance)
New Delhi
19 May 2020
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