Chandigarh admn launches app to alert public about Covid zones

CVD Tracker will geo-fence people in quarantine with a radius of 50 metres

In another move aimed at containing the epidemic, the Chandigarh administration has launched a mobile application on Saturday to alert the public about quarantined spaces or areas with suspected Covid-19 patients.

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The app called ‘CVD Tracker’ has been developed to identify and geo-fence specific areas around people who have been placed under quarantine.

Explaining its function, Anil Garg, additional commissioner of UT’s municipal corporation, said it was mandatory for people placed under quarantine to download the app on their cellphones. “But the general public can also download it and see all the red zones— the quarantined or suspected areas. If any person reaches near it, an alert in shape of beep or siren will appear in their mobile,” said Garg, who is also incharge of contact tracing and quarantine teams.He said this would greatly help the public as a preventive measure.

QUARANTINED TO UPLOAD SELFIE EVERY HOUR 
As per government directions, it has been made mandatory for quarantined persons to upload their selfies every hour on this app, to enable regular tracking their location and their health condition.

Every quarantined person will be fenced within 50 metre radius of his place of quarantine. If the user breaches the geo-fence, he will get a warning message and the UT will be alerted in the control room that the user has jumped the fence. An FIR under relevant sections will be registered against violators of quarantine, Garg said.

The control room will be alerted even if the phone of the quarantined person is switched off, which is not recommended, he said.

A 24X7 control room has been set up to monitor quarantined persons. While all freshly quarantined persons will be made to add download the app on the spot, the previous 500 active cases will also be made to download it.

Since the number of quarantined persons may increase, the app will make it easier for health and police department to track them. The general public will also benefit by this move.

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How to download it

--Go to Playstore and search for CVD tracker App. Download it.

--Or use the link http://uen.io/6v4y