Hey, what’s up, folks! It’s been a couple of days since the 21-day lockdown begun. Our battle has begun. But together, as always and as history has proven, India will win. And the new MVP is CoWin-20 app. It is currently being tested on both iOS and Android. It will track your location and alert you if you are near a COVID-19 infected patient. A report from News18 noted that the testing is limited to a select group of users right now.

How does the CoWin-20 App work?

CoWin-20 will use your location data and Bluetooth to gauge if you’ve been near a person who was infected by COVID-19.

This is determined by looking through a database of people who have been infected, as well as through a database containing the individuals’ travel history.

It also has the capability to tell you if you’re in an area with a high number of coronavirus cases.

The app asks for your permission to always access your location data. Not going to lie to you folks, this step definitely raises my concerns on privacy. However, it promises it to keep your data encrypted and limited to the device. It will only share your data with the health ministry if you’ve tested positive for the disease. I’m not entirely clear how the government will track those people and match their location data in the app. Only time can tell!

What does the app look like?

The app is currently in its beta phase and has been rolled out to a few android users. Sources from the internet, who have analyzed the code, have provided some insights for us.

The app will rely on Bluetooth to check if you’ve been within six feet of an infected person.

For example: Let’s say you met someone a week ago at a gathering, and in a few days, they test positive for COVID-19. The health ministry will trace back all touchpoints of the infected person, through the active devices that were in close radius of him/her, in the last 14 days. The continuous location tracking is how the app captures the various touchpoints of the infected.

A notification will then be sent to all of them in close proximity to the infected to get a COVID-19 screening done. Since you happened to be at the same gathering, there is a high possibility that you have contracted it too and you will get a call informing you about the same. This way, you’ll get notified way in advance about the chances of contraction and this allows you to buy more time to take the necessary steps to prevent it from spreading.

The only way this app is going to be fruitful is if everyone installs it! So, I’m guessing the government will promote this app in various ways to get more people to use it.

CoWin-20 App

Image Source: Internet

CoWin-20 App

Image Source: Internet

Stay tuned for more updates on this folks! Let me know what you guys think in the comments below.

Stay safe. Stay indoors. Practice social distancing and we will get through this. Peace!