BHUBANESWAR: Researchers across the country are doing their bit to find ways to track and diagnose COVID-19. Putting in their efforts to the fight for the cause are two faculties of Rama Devi Women’s University.
Associate Professor Bibudhendu Pati and Assistant Professor Chhabirani Panigrahi are developing a smart application that will work as COVID-19 tracker and help the Government in effective tracking, tracing suspects and ensuring practice of social distancing. Prof Pati, Head of Computer Science Department said the tracker will be a mobile application integrated with Google map and QR code technology which can be downloaded easily on smart phones.
He said currently no app has been developed in the country for tracking infected persons and their contact tracing. Besides, social distancing is being monitored by police and administration at different levels. “The COVID-19 tracker can be used for this purpose. With telecom operators providing service to more than 500 million users and crores of people having smart phones, around 70 per cent families in India can be covered and monitored using the tracker. The tracker mechanism will be implemented with clinical questionnaires and use Google location for tracking patients. Moreover, the technology is simple to implement,” he added.
After installing the app users will require to register themselves on it using their name, mobile number and Aadhaar number. The application will also ask for family member details such as their name, mobile type and contact number.
To be centrally monitored, some clinical questionnaires will be required to be filled by the user everyday on the app which the tracker QR code will verify and change its colour accordingly. It will have four different colours. While the first two colours - black and green - will indicate safety, the third colour - pink - will alert user about breaking social distancing protocol. The fourth colour -Red - will alert the administration about the health condition of user. While Aadhaar number and Google location are being used in the app to help ensure social distancing, the QR code, if remains green, can be used as entry pass to any place.
Besides, if an user is not submitting questionnaires on a particular day then also the QR code will change its colour to Red sounding alert to administration for tracking of the person. The Google location in the application will help officials for this purpose.
The University has submitted a proposal to the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research seeking approval for nation-wide use of the application. Sources said, the proposal has been approved in the first round of scrutiny and awaits further nod.