The Press Information Bureau has clarified that govt. has not any take move to procure wristbands embedded with the Arogya Setu app to monitor movements of COVID-19 patients.

On April 22, the Economics Times published a report claiming that the Central government is preparing to procure thousands of wristbands which will be embedded with its Arogya Setu app to monitor movements of COVID-19 patients in the hospital and home quarantine.

Journalist Vasudev Venugopal tweeted, "The Centre is preparing to procure thousands of wristbands which will be embedded with its Arogya Setu app to monitor movements of patients in govt hospitals, house quarantine, & also help frontline workers take adequate care when they visit houses."

Economics Times quoted an unknown government official in their article saying, "Each infected person has the ability to infect 100 others. So the numbers under monitoring will be huge in the coming days. The wristbands will ensure that people quarantined with suspected infections stay at a designated place. If they take it off, the hospitals will be informed. Once integrated with the Arogya Setu app, there will be many more parameters which will be available for the health officials’ supervision."



The truth behind the claim

Following the Economic Times report, the Press Information Bureau clarifies that there is no such move and the report is baseless.

PIB said, "Claim: Centre is preparing to procure thousands of wristbands which will be embedded with its #ArogyaSetu app to monitor movements of #COVID2019india patients in hospital & home quarantine Fact: there is no such move. Fake and baseless news"

However, even after PIB's clarification, on April 23, a similar report was also published by ABPlive claiming that the central government is preparing to launch wristbands that work with the Arogya Setu app as it will prove to be very helpful in monitoring people.

In conclusion, the Press Information Bureau has clarified that govt. has not any take move to procure wristbands embedded with the Arogya Setu app to monitor movements of COVID-19 patients.