Aarogya Setu's new feature to help organisations get health status of staff

Aarogya Setu has rolled out a new feature that will enable organisations to get the health status of their employees or any other user without violating their data privacy, an official release said on Saturday.

Aarogya Setu has now emerged as the most downloaded contact tracing app in the world, with more than 15 crore users, it said.

The new feature called 'Open API Service' will help people, businesses and the economy to return to normalcy, and aims to address the fear/risk of COVID-19 infection.

The service can be availed by organisations and business entities, who are registered in India with more than 50 employees, and they can use it 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 that entity, the release added.

"In order to help businesses and economy to start functioning while being safe, the Open API Service enables organisations to check the status of Aarogya Setu and integrate it into its various Work from Home features," the release by Ministry of Electronics and IT said.

The Open API (application programme interface) shall only provide the Aarogya Setu status and name of the Aarogya Setu User with their consent.

No other personal data shall be provided through the API, the release added.

Registration for the new service can be done at openapi.aarogyasetu.gov.in, it said.

Since its launch on April 2, Aarogya Setu has been aiding the efforts of frontline health workers and the government in COVID-19 mitigation and management efforts.

More than 6.6 million Bluetooth contacts have been traced and percentage positive of those who have tested is almost 27 per cent.

"Since its launch, Aarogya Setu has continuously innovated and introduced more novel features like e-pass integration, QR Code scanning, sharing of Health status with family/known persons - all of which have been very effective in keeping India and Indians safe...," the release added.