DIMAPUR, April 26 - In another first in Nagaland, the Mon district administration has launched a mobile app to monitor the current, previous and future movement of people under observation for COVID-19.
Deputy Commissioner Thavaseelan K on Saturday said that besides monitoring the movement of people under observation for COVID-19, the app will also track user locations and profiles, information on vital signs, where people last travelled and how they were progressing daily.
The district administration thanked Nagaland principal secretary R Ramakrishnan for helping it to collaborate with Kishore Reddy of Sita Corp, US, for developing and deploying the app.
He said the NL-SOJO COVID Exposure Tracking is being adopted around the world as a quick and simple way for local government and health authorities to keep track of the health status and exposure risk within their communities.
Thavaseelan said the authorities are alerted when users go outside the defined boundaries, during quarantine or lockdown � a tactic that has successfully limited the spread of COVID-19.
To use the app, people simply fill out a profile, with travel history, medical symptoms, vital signs, etc. They get instant alerts from the authorities, maps of test centres and hospitals, educational COVID-19 resources from official sources, and if enabled, the view of the last visited locations of infected individuals, he said.
He said the communication includes receiving alerts about users� locations for compliance with local safety guidelines, sending mass messages, email and SMS emergency calls.
The app is useful for monitoring individuals in quarantine or lockdown, medical and emergency personnel providing care, employees in essential, retail, grocery stores and other high-exposure occupations, recent travellers by air, rail, bus, etc., and voluntary citizen opt-in.
Thavaseelan said the app is available on Google Play Store. It can be downloaded and used directly from their smartphones. It will be available on the Apple iOS App store shortly.
Mon district along the Indo-Myanmar border in Nagaland is way ahead of other districts in the state. The district administration had put in place arrangements to combat the virus much before other districts. The Mon District COVID-19 War Room was set up on April 10 at the District Rural Development Agency on April 10 whereas Chief Secretary Temjen Toy directed all Deputy Commissioners to set up District COVID-19 War Rooms on April 21.
