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WHO lauds Aarogya Setu app, says it helped to identify Covid-19 clusters

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The World Health Organisation (WHO) has lauded India's Aarogya Setu mobile application for helping health departments to identify Covid-19 clusters. "Aarogya Setu app from India has been downloaded by 150 million users, and has helped city public health departments to identify areas where clusters could be anticipated and expand testing in a targeted way," WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a media briefing.

The app was launched by the government in April to protect citizens amid Covid-19. It is designed to inform users about any potential risk of coronavirus infection around them, best practices to stay healthy, and relevant/curated medical advisories pertaining to the pandemic.

Earlier, the WHO chief had also praised India’s efforts to contain coronavirus spread in Mumbai’s Dharavi slum.

Meanwhile, the ministry of health on Tuesday issued guidelines for the management of co-infection of Covid-19 with other seasonal epidemic-prone diseases.

With the aim of providing clear guidelines on prevention and treatment of co-infections of coronavirus with other diseases, the ministry said, "As per the WHO case definition, a Covid case may present with acute onset of fever and cough, or, acute onset of any three or more of the following signs or symptoms: fever, cough, general weakness or fatigue, headache, myalgia, sore throat, coryza, dyspnoea, anorexia, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, altered mental status."

"This case definition, although sensitive, is not very specific. Seasonal epidemic prone diseases, as cited in the foregoing paragraphs may all present as febrile illness, with symptoms that mimic Covid-19. 

If there is a co-infection, then apart from the febrile illness there may be constellation of signs and symptoms that may lead to difficulty in diagnosis. A comparative analysis of disease onset, symptoms, signs, warning signs, complications and diagnosis is given at Annexure," the ministry added.


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