New Delhi: World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said India’s COVID-19 contact tracing app Aarogya Setu, like tech tools of other countries, has helped public health departments to identify clusters and increase testing.
Ghebreyesus, in WHO’s recent media briefing, stressed on implementing “tried and tested public health tools” such as self-isolation and contract tracing to prevent COVID-19 transmission. He added that technologies like mobile applications were making these tools more “effective”. “The Aarogya Setu application in India that has been downloaded by 150 million users” is one such technology, he was quoted as saying.
“Aarogya Setu has helped city public departments to identify areas where clusters could be anticipated and increase Covid-19 testing in a targeted way,” WHO chief said.
Ghebreyesus also took into account other contract tracing applications like Germany’s Corona Warn app and the United Kingdom’s NHS’s COVID-19 app among others that have helped in tracing clusters. He apprised that WHO is working with these countries to evaluate the effectiveness of their digital apps.
