In a bid to step up its efforts to track the spread of COVID-19, the Government of India is preparing to procure thousands of wristbands with ArogyaSetu app installed in them. The move will enable the authorities to monitor the movements of patients in hospitals, quarantine centres, and even those who are home quarantined. Broadcast Engineering Consultants India (BECIL) has decided to pitch the design to AIIMS and other government hospitals and then to the to state governments. BECIL is working with Bengaluru and Gurgaon based startups for developing the technology that the government needs and it will also look at the commercial aspect of procuring the technology.
It will also act as another pair of eyes for the frontline workers and alert them in case of any COVID-19 positive person around. Considering home quarantine, wristbands will be helpful in remote monitoring and will be of help for healthcare professionals to know people’s temperature and symptoms.
As quoted by a national daily, an official said, “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 Arogya Setu app, there will be many more parameters which will be available for the health officials’ supervision.”
The wristbands can help in reducing the manpower involved in tracking and monitoring activities to a greater extent, hence, will be safeguarding the officials as well. This will be helpful to frontline workers to monitor patients’ health and also to warn them when they enter risk zones.
However, states like Maharashtra and Karnataka already have a tracking system for those under home quarantine, whereas, Kerala is using GPS solutions to serve the purpose.
