The Open API Service will allow organisations to check the status of the Aarogya Setu and integrate it into its various work from home features
The government introduced a new feature 'Open API Service' on its contact tracing app Aarogya Setu on August 22 to help businesses and the economy return to normalcy while following the norms set in place to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Open API Service will allow organisations to check the status of the Aarogya Setu and integrate it into its various work from home features, the Ministry of Electronics and IT said in a statement.
This feature that enables organizations to get the health status of their employees or any other Aarogya Setu user without violating their data privacy, would be available to businesses and entities that are registered in India and employ over 50 employees, the report said.
"Organisations can use the Open API Service to query the Aarogya Setu Application in real-time and get the health status of their employees or any other Aarogya Setu user, who have provided their consent for sharing their health status with the organization," the ministry said in the statement.
The Open API shall only provide the Aarogya Setu status and name of the Aarogya Setu user (with User's consent). No other personal data shall be provided through the API, clarified the ministry.
So far, the contact tracing app has helped identify over 30,000 cases of the novel coronavirus. More than 6.6 million Bluetooth contacts have been traced, and the percentage positive of those who have tested is almost 27 percent. This has thus helped to assist health officials and administration to take necessary precautionary steps, the statement said.
The Aarogya Setu app has 15 crore users currently, according to numbers shared on the government's Twitter account.
Businesses can download the new feature here.