CHENNAI: The Chennai-based Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE) has developed an app called 'Kavasam' to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, which is wreaking havoc in the city.
Unlike currently available apps like Arogya Setu, which is being widely promoted by the Centre, Kavasam is meant to ease the work of frontline workers, enable street-level surveillance and aid quicker decision-making by those in charge.
V Balamurugan, Director, CVRDE, told The New Indian Express that 'Kavasam' was developed following a request from the Avadi Corporation. "Our team took two weeks to develop the software and Android app for end users. We have used the services of MapmyIndia to digitally view street-level information like number of households etc. We are currently training Avadi Corporation staff to use the application and have been contacted by the Special Nodal Officer for Greater Chennai Corporation J Radhakrishnan seeking a demonstration."
The app facilitates geofencing of homes of those under quarantine to monitor their movement. An automatic notification will be sent to the super admin, epicentre head and team leader/police if the person moves 100m away from the location.
Balamurugan said a database has been created for the corporation with geocoding of streets and number of houses in each street. Different colour codes are given for authorities to know which streets have been surveyed. For instance, if health workers finish collecting data from a particular street, it will be shown as green in the app.
"There are a lot of spin-off benefits of the app. It can also be used by the health department to allocate a vaccine for COVID-19 when it is developed or by the revenue department to distribute other resources like food, water and ration."