As India enters its fourth phase of coronavirus disease (COVID-19)-necessitated nationwide lockdown starting today till May 31, new guidelines issued by the central government pertaining to Lockdown 4.0 have been enforced. Under these new orders, the central government has, interestingly, scaled down its earlier directive regarding the use of the 'Aarogya Setu' mobile application from asking for "100% coverage" to a "best effort basis" now.

Indeed, under these new guidelines for Lockdown 4.0, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs has asked employers to ensure, on a "best effort basis", that the application is installed by all employees having compatible mobile phones. This comes with a view to ensuring safety in offices and workplaces, the government stated, as the 'Aarogya Setu' mobile application facilitates "quick identification of persons infected by COVID-19, or at risk of being infected, thus acting as a shield for individuals and the community".

Furthermore, district authorities have been also been asked under the new Lockdown 4.0 guidelines to advise individuals to install the 'Aarogya Setu' application on compatible mobile phones and regularly update their health status on the app. This will facilitate the timely provision of medical attention to those individuals who are at risk, according to a Press Information Bureau (PIB) release. State/ UT Governments shall continue to strictly enforce the lockdown guidelines and they shall not dilute these guidelines in any manner, it was said.

Notably, this is the MHA somewhat scaling down from its earlier May 1 order, where the Centre had made the use of the 'Aarogya Setu' app mandatory for all employees, both private and public. "It shall be the responsibility of the head of the respective organisation to ensure 100 percent coverage of the app among the employees," the MHA had ordered in its May 1 guidelines.

This "mandatory" tag for the 'Aarogya Setu' app was omitted in the recent Lockdown 4.0 guidelines.

A noticeable controversy had erupted across social media after an anonymous French hacker, who goes by the moniker 'Elliot Alderson', had claimed a few days ago that "a security issue has been found" in the 'Aarogya Setu' mobile application and that "privacy of 90 million Indians is at stake".

The government had, however, rejected Alderson's claim saying 'Aarogya Setu' is free from any data or security breach and that "no personal information of any user has been proven to be at risk by this ethical hacker".

"We are continuously testing and upgrading our systems. Team Aarogya Setu assures everyone that no data or security breach has been identified," the government had said through the app's official Twitter handle.