ABSTRACT
The world of the COVID-19 pandemic is an anomalous biosphere with nothing to be forecasted. The main concern of every individual is focused on keeping themselves safe from infection. This need of keeping oneself safe has raised an alarming situation and resulted into quasi self-quarantines and self-imposed seclusion. The pandemic has increasingly put pressure on the healthcare system of different countries, wherein the countries with the limited number of doctors and health staff are finding it increasingly difficult for all intent and purposes to treat the patients. To lay off the load of medical staff all around the world, different countries have adopted their own unique technique of handling the calamity. One of the creations is applications on smartphones. This has resulted in increasing awareness, self-detection of coronavirus symptoms among the population. These applications were designed to increase awareness among individuals of any risk in their surroundings. It has been developed by corporates, governments and NGOs. The Indian government also launched its own indigenous app named Aarogya Setu (Bridge of Health) to capacitate people to handle and self-detect coronavirus symptoms. The present case is an effort to understand the adoption of Aarogya Setu app from the eye of diffusion of innovation. Case Objective Objectives of the case are to make readers aware about the coronavirus-related applications launched during pandemic, criteria for diffusion of innovation and the concepts of adoption.
ABSTRACT
The pandemic of COVID-19 had adverse impact on most of the sectors across the globe. It has shown its impact in India first in March 2020 and the government had taken various efforts to keep track of the individuals affected from this virus. The launch of Aarogya Setu mobile application for contact tracing is one such initiative. It gives a holistic view to the individuals as well as to the authorities involved. The effectiveness of this depends upon the user acceptance and usability. The chapter aims to study this by proposing a hypothesized conceptual model based on widely adopted technology acceptance model (TAM). The proposed model and four hypotheses are then tested empirically by collecting data through a self-designed survey instrument. The data analysis is done using approach structural equation modeling (SEM) in a two-step process. First, CFA is carried out and then path analysis of the proposed model is carried out. The results reveal that perceived usefulness (PU) has impact on intention to adopt the said mobile application and also ease of use impacts the PU 94of application. The researchers suggest theoretical as well as the practical implications of the study and future directions are presented at the end. © 2023 by Apple Academic Press, Inc.
ABSTRACT
India being the most populous country had to tailor made its approaches to tackle the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Public health expenditure in India is just above 1% of gross domestic product. The warning signs of pandemic arrival in India were knocking our health-care system since the first few cases surfaced in Kerala. Social distancing as a method of keeping the virus at bay was first officially flagged by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 19 in order to call for a 1-day “Janata Curfew” on March 22. The Epidemic Disease Act was implemented, and special task force was developed to draft guidelines for personal hygiene, surveillance, contact tracing, quarantine, diagnosis, laboratory tests, and the management of COVID-19. The Aarogya Setu app was developed to alert the public about COVID-19 symptoms, contact tracing, and the nearest contact of health-care center. We need to strive to extricate our country from this situation as advised by Krishna, “Uddharet Atmanatmanam—a person has to lift himself up;a man is his own best friend as also enemy.” © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Demand for contract tracing applications is significantly increasing as governments across the globe are relying on these mobile apps to help combat the spread of the COVID-19 virus. However, while this technology has a potential benefit, there is widespread concern that consumers’ fears around privacy and data protection prevent them from downloading such apps. By focusing on this emerging crisis, in this study, we investigate the potential obstacles imposed by privacy concerns (i.e., the perceived risk of accepting the app permission, the perceived risk of providing the information). This study also investigates the popularity of Aarogya Setu, the Indian government’s COVID-19 app. In doing so, we examine privacy concerns through the theoretical lens of the Elaboration Likelihood Model and explore the download intentions of new users. Using the above dimensions of privacy, we then propose a conceptual framework that depicts the influence of privacy concerns over the download intention of new users. Lastly, this paper provides suggestions to allow the Aarogya Setu to improve its perceived reliability among its users and increase downloads. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
Background: The 'Aarogya Setu' mobile phone application (app) is designed to inform people regarding the potential risk of COVID-19.Alimited amount of information is available about awareness and usage of the app. Objective: To assess awareness, opinions, and usage of the 'Aarogya Setu' app amongst out patients of three clinics in Mulshi taluka of Pune district. Methods: Convenient sampling technique was used. A total of 234 patients were interviewed who visited the clinics over five months. The interviews were conducted on phone using a pre-tested questionnaire. Additionally, 15 indepth interviews were conducted with the participants who had previously used the app. on the telephone using an interview schedule. Quantitative data were analyzed by calculating frequencies and associations. An inductive approach was used to analyze qualitative information. Results: Around one-third of the participants (33.8%) were aware that the 'Government of India' (Gol) has developed an app named 'Aarogya Setu' to fight against the pandemic. A significantly higher percentage of awareness was observed in the participants less than 35 years of age. The app was mostly known and used for 'obtaining the number of nearby COVID-19 patients'. Overall, the participants believed in the purpose of the app. Concerns were raised about the reliability of the data gained from the app. Conclusion: Awareness of the 'Aarogya Setu' app needs to be enhanced amongst all age groups. Trust building in the app must be strengthened simultaneously.
ABSTRACT
The entire world has gotten caught and is now furious that the deadly corona virus is out. All and every person's life across the globe has stopped. It took millions of lives already. The government of most countries agreed to follow the full lock-down of human activities due to its propensity to a high spread frequency. Therefore, this work of mine would be a accentuating the affectivity of the Aarogya Setu application in spreading realization amongst the masses that self- care in this situation of emergence is the only way not only of saving one's own life but also of others. It would also effectively highlight that though, the use of virtual platform has benefitted all but its improper utilization can create loads of misunderstanding, confusion and can give rise to some devastating situation.
ABSTRACT
Several digital contact tracing smartphone applications have been developed worldwide in the effort to combat COVID-19 that warn users of potential exposure to infectious patients and generate big data that helps in early identification of hotspots, complementing the manual tracing operations. In most democracies, concerns over a breach in data privacy have resulted in severe opposition toward their mandatory adoption. This paper examines India as a noticeable exception, where the compulsory installation of such a government-backed application, the "Aarogya Setu" has been deemed mandatory in certain situations. We argue that the mandatory app requirement constitutes a legitimate public health intervention during a public health emergency.