IISc, IITs develop mobile applications to fight coronavirus

Four Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore have developed mobile applications, to help authorities and individuals to keep track of COVID-19 patients and their movements. This has been done to avoid any further spread of coronavirus.

Some of the top institutions in the country have been contributing to its fullest in the fight against coronavirus, which has taken several lives across the nation. Four Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore have developed mobile applications, which have proven notably helpful.

These applications are proving helpful in not only tracking the coronavirus data but also in locating COVID-19 suspects and ensuring quarantine protocols are followed by using alerts in case lockdown is broken.

Some of the mobile applications developed by the four IITs and IISc are:

GoCoronaGo by IISc Bangalore

A team of researchers at IISC has developed this app 'GoCoronaGo'. This app helps in identifying people who may have crossed paths with coronavirus suspects or individuals by tracking their interactions in the past using Bluetooth and GPS. 

Talking about the application,  Tarun Rambha, a faculty member at IISc, said: "the app uses temporal network analytics in the backend to understand the risk propensity even for distant contacts, understand disease spread and identify high-risk people who are likely to contract and spread the virus."

"It also provides alerts on isolation and proximity scores and helps enhance social distancing. It also has a geofencing feature for those who are under quarantine, and has the ability to provide their symptoms which are used in the risk evaluation," Rambha added.

'Sampark-o-Meter' by IIT Ropar

A BTech student at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Ropar has developed a mobile-based app called 'Sampark-o-Meter' which can indicate areas on maps with maximum coronavirus infection possibility.

The application generates a risk score after considering various factors. This app can alert people to take precautionary measure including self-quarantine or consulting a physician.

The app would facilitate users to estimate corona sampark risk rating.

Sahil Verma, the students who have developed this application said that this app if implemented successfully, can timely alert and more efficiently control the spread of coronavirus.

'Corontine'  by IIT Bombay

A team of students and alumni at IIT Bombay has developed this app to help in tracking the potential or suspected asymptomatic carriers of coronavirus in case they leave their quarantine zone.

"The app is meant to be installed on the mobile of asymptomatic carriers (AC) by an authorized agency (AA). The app will send GPS coordinates of the mobiles periodically to a server under the supervision of AA," a team member said.

"If a user leaves a specified quarantined zone marked by a geo-fence, it will be auto-detected. The purpose of the app is to help authorities track the asymptomatic carriers and prevent the spread of the disease," he added.

App by IIT Delhi to trace COVID-19 infected people

A group of students at IIT Delhi has developed an application that will help trace individuals who have come in close contact with coronavirus positive cases.

"With the help of the Bluetooth, the application will track and alert all individuals who have been in close vicinity of positive coronavirus cases in the past days," said Arshad Nassar, a PhD student at the institute's design department.

In case if the individual has come in contact with a coronavirus positive patient, the app will connect the user to the nearest healthcare facility. It will also provide guidelines to be followed during self-quarantine and supportive care guidelines, he added.

Surveillance App by IIT Roorkee

IIT Roorkee Professor Kamal Jain has developed a surveillance system to track individuals and also to do geofencing around him or her. The system will send an alert to the local authorities if geofencing is violated by the quarantined person.

"In case GPS data is not received, the location will be obtained automatically through the triangulation of mobile towers. If the Internet is not working in a certain area, the location will be received through SMS," Jain said.

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