Govt refutes claims of procuring wristbands embedded with Arogya Setu app

Government has refuted claims that Centre is preparing to procure thousands of wristbands which will be embedded with its Arogya Setu app to monitor movements of COVID-19 patients in hospital and home quarantine.

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Key-Points

These bands will help medical personnel and authorities keep track of the movement of patients in hospitals and those under self-quarantine along with supporting frontline workers to take proper safety measures.

Once integrated with Aarogya Setu app, there will be many more parameters that will be available for the health officials’ supervision.

The price of these bands will be ranging at around Rs 2200 per piece. However, the prices may go down if the demand reduces.

The development comes at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic is showing no signs of slowing its spread across the globe. The total tally of positive cases in India this morning was at 20,178 with 645 deaths.

For its launch, Broadcast Engineering Consultants India (BECIL) will be looking after the technological requirements of the government and is working with various Bengaluru and Gurugram based startups on designing the tools. It will also work with AIIMS and other government hospitals, the report said.

Recently, the government-promoted Aarogya Setu app had alarmed some activists and people alike over privacy issues. Many privacy crusaders have been expressing serious concerns over the kind of surveillance Aarogya Setup could lead to.