Aarogya Setu will display vaccination status, double blue ticks for fully vaccinated

“Now your Vaccination Status can be updated on Aarogya Setu. Get your self vaccinated - Get the Double Blue Ticks and Get the Blue Shield,” Aarogya Setu tweeted on Tuesday.

The Aarogya Setu mobile application, India’s contact tracing app introduced last year during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic, has now been upgraded to also indicate a person’s vaccination status. The app is used for contact tracing and also for the dissemination of medical advisories intended to contain the spread of Covid-19 in India and is currently maintained by the National Informatics Centre (NIC). “Now your Vaccination Status can be updated on Aarogya Setu. Get your self vaccinated - Get the Double Blue Ticks and Get the Blue Shield,” Aarogya Setu tweeted on Tuesday.

Apart from the Co-WIN digital platform used for Covid-19 vaccinations, the government has said that the Aarogya Setu app could also be used by the beneficiaries to register themselves. (AP)

The application uses Bluetooth technology and the personal contact number of a person to mark them as either Covid-19 positive or negative. All Covid-19 test results are uploaded by the laboratory which analysed the samples to the Indian Council of Medical Research’s (ICMR’s) online portal. Once a person tests positive for the coronavirus disease, ICMR then shares the user’s contact number with the Aarogya Setu based on which the person is marked as Covid-19 positive in the app—indicated by status changed to red colour).

Apart from the Co-WIN digital platform used for Covid-19 vaccinations, the government has said that the Aarogya Setu app could also be used by the beneficiaries to register themselves.

India’s vaccination drive against the coronavirus disease commenced on January 16 and is currently in its third phase, during which all people above 18 years of age are eligible to receive the vaccine. Two vaccines—Covishield manufactured by the Serum Institute of India and Covaxin manufactured by Bharat Biotech—are being used for inoculation in India. Lately Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine has also received approval for usage in the country. According to the latest data from the Union ministry of health and family welfare, 198,538,999 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been administered to eligible beneficiaries in the country as of 8am on Tuesday.