Aarogya Setu to pinpoint future hotspots in Ahmedabad

AHMEDABAD: Even as Ahmedabad has one of Gujarat’s lowest contact tracing numbers, 6 people per Covid-19 positive patient, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) is now relying heavily on the granular data of Aarogya Setu app. It is tracing the location and proximity of individuals to Covid-19 positive people over a fortnight to target upcoming hotspots in the city.
The data provided by the central government is so granular that even emerging residential society hotspots can be pinpointed. In fact, the movement history of Covid-19 positive patients in a ward, between wards, or a society is being collected and a relative future spread matrix is simulated in the area. The data also shows where social distancing was violated the most.
“Our health teams are now working with more focus and isolating vulnerable population and testing early in areas that may be susceptible,” says a senior official who did not wish to be named. Earlier, the data was provided to the AMC per ward, which forced many to scatter blindly in a large geographical area. “The latest granular data pinpoints potential Covid-19 patients and also societies,” adds the official. As is clear, access to Bluetooth is key for the app to establish proximity range between two people. “Location and proximity data of Covid-19 patients who did not have Aarogya Setu in their phones previously is being collected as well,” says the official. “But as more smartphones install Aarogya Setu and come in each other’s Bluetooth range, the app collects information. If a person has already tested positive, the contact tracing app will alert the other person and also help the government trace potential cases.”
The drawback, however, is that officially only 15 lakh people in the city have the app on their smartphones. And not all of the persons have their Bluetooth or location on all the time as it consumes a lot of battery power.
Meanwhile, the AMC on Tuesday registered 23 Covid-19 deaths, including that of a 25-year-old woman from Rajpur area who was eight months pregnant. Of the total deaths on Tuesday, three were reported from the western part of the city. This included a 67-year-old man from Jodhpur, an 80-year-old man from Gota, and a 75-year-old man from Paldi. Of the total, six victims had no co-morbidities, while a large set of patients had hypertension and diabetes. Other patients had liver problems. Sixteen victims were above 50.