Govt releases backend code of Aarogya Setu to enhance transparency

"With regard to Aarogya Setu App, it has been the endeavour of the government to share all information relating to it," a statement said.

PTI

November 20, 2020 / 21:46 IST

The government on Friday released the backend code of Aarogya Setu in the open domain that will help people understand the functioning of the COVID-19 contact-tracing app and allay apprehensions they may have around privacy and security.

The source code of the Android and iOS versions of the Aarogya Setu app was released earlier and the backend source code has been released as per the government policy to share all code repositories with the developer community, the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) said in a statement.

"Releasing backend code will help people in understanding the complete functioning of the app. This will clear any doubt that they have regarding privacy and security of their data," a MeitY official explained.

MeitY has released the backend code of Aarogya Setu on the OpenForge platform set up by the government to promote sharing and reuse of e-governance application source codes.

"By opening the source code, the Government wants to encourage collaborative development between government departments and agencies and private organizations, citizens and developers to spur the creation of innovative e-governance applications and services.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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