How Is Technology Helping These States Fight COVID-19 Valiantly?

The Centre and States have been working distinctively in creating strategies and enforcing lockdowns to contain and terminate the COVID-19 outbreak. Communication between the Prime Minister and State Ministers is happening via video conferencing for safety purposes today, that would also highlight the importance of social distancing to contain the spread of the virus.

Human beings have now taken a back seat and technology has taken over the wheel. As most businesses look to keep their boat floating with technology tools, the Indian Government has also used different kinds of technology in an effort to contain the virus. Data has been correctly pointing towards the hotspots of the country leaving the States more responsible for their decision based on the most affected areas. 

Here is how Indian States Are Fighting COVID-19 with different technologies: 

• Tamil Nadu

The government of Tamil Nadu has helped further the reach of the Aarogya Setu app by making it available to those that don’t have smartphones through IVRS. The Aarogya Setu app notifies people if they are near a COVID-19 affected person. With this information, people can maintain social distancing effectively and hence, contain the spread. 

Along with this, the disaster management unit of the state’s government has set up a data analytics centre which will extract details from all districts and help the government make informed decisions. They are also using drones, GIS systems and more. 

Read in detail: Tamil Nadu uses Aarogya setu IVRS facility, drones to fight COVID-19

• Rajasthan

To combat house arrest and still keep other health treatments going, the Government of Rajasthan has partnered with a health-tech startup called MedCords to facilitate medicine delivery and provide online consultations. The app is an integration of Aayu and Sehat Sathi App and will reach 68 million people in Rajasthan. 

Read in detail: Rajasthan Govt partners with healthcare App ‘Aayu’ to tackle COVID-19

• Chhattisgarh

This state has topped the list of ‘best off districts’ or Covid-free clusters and for good reason. The Chhattisgarh government will be using an integrated platform where all entries made by staff regarding home quarantine, contact, tracing, quarantine centres, etc will be done in one place. They are also exchanging data effectively. 

Read in detail: Chhattisgarh fights COVID-19 with an integrated tech platform

• Jharkhand

The Jharkhand government has been very strict about the lockdown and has social media and drones to keep everyone in check. The only solution at the moment is to stop the spread of the virus and Jharkhand is doing exactly that. 

Read: Jharkhand develops app to transfer cash to migrant labourers

The consequence of the lockdown has also been the migrant crisis where migrant labourers are wanting to go back home amid the lockdown. The Jharkhand government has developed an app to transfer money to migrants as a relief. With geofencing and geo-tagging technologies, it will be easier to trace migrants. 

Read in detail: Social media, drones come in handy for Jharkhand police in enforcing lockdown

• Kerala

The first state to have said to flatten the curve of the virus, Kerala has very effectively used technology in fighting the virus. The Cyber Cell of Kerala used a surveillance platform to identify affected persons and monitor the spread of the disease. Geo-fencing and drones have been quite useful in helping the government understand who has come in contact with a positive person and is at the risk of getting tested positive. 

Read in detail: The Kerala way: Use of geofencing, drones, telemed app to tackle Covid-19

• Himachal Pradesh

The Himachal Pradesh Government has been quite active, especially their IT department led by Rohan Chand Thakur. A series of applications have been developed that will serve the essential requirements of the people of Himachal. A reporting app, e-pass app, quarantine app, are some examples. 

Read in detail: Himachal Pradesh develops COVID-19 combat applications in no time

• Punjab

The Punjab government has focused on ensuring that essentials reach people on a timely basis while maintaining the safety of vendors and customers. Punjab’s ePMB app will schedule the arrival of mandis so social distancing is maintained. ePasses will be issued to farmers and through geotagging they will track if there are too many people gathered at one place. 

Read in detail: COVID-19 lockdown: Punjab’s ePMB app to schedule mandi arrivals

• Goa

Goa was the first state to introduce self-assessment app for Covid-19 symptoms that citizens can carry out. The Government of Goa partnered with healthcare data activation platform Innovacer to create this app. It also provides quarantine and health information. 

Along with this app, Goa has an app like other states to track quarantine suspects and also those that are asymptomatic. 

Every State in its own capacity has been working relentlessly at containing the spread of the coronavirus and hopefully, ease lockdown restrictions soon. Maharashtra continues to remain the most affected state with Mumbai and Pune seeing the maximum number of cases. Gujarat and Delhi report the next most number of cases followed by Uttar Pradesh. Grim reality stares at the Indian subcontinent but with good strategy work, we shall overcome this, as we always do.