Exploring the role and mechanism of COVID-19 apps in fighting the current pandemic

Abstract

As COVID-19 pandemic spread worldwide, policies have been developed to contain the disease and prevent viral transmission. One of the key strategies has been the principle of “‘test, track, and trace” to minimize spread of the virus. Numerous COVID-19 contact tracing applications have been rolled around the world to monitor and control the spread of the disease. We explore the characteristics of various COVID-19 applications and especially the Aarogya Setu COVID-19 app from India in its role in fighting the current pandemic. We assessed the current literature available to us using conventional search engines, including but not limited to PubMed, Google Scholar, and Research Gate in May 2020 till the time of submission of this article. The search criteria used MeSH keywords such as “COVID-19,” “pandemics,” “contact tracing,” and “mobile applications.” A variable uptake of different COVID-19 applications has been noted with increasing enrolment around the world. Security concerns about data privacy remain. The various COVID-19 applications will complement manual contact tracing system to assess and prevent viral transmission. Test, track, trace, and support policy will play a key role in avoidance of a “second wave” of the novel coronavirus severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 outbreak.