Coronavirus outbreak: IIT-Bombay develops app to track quarantined

To ensure and verify adherence to quarantine, the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B) has developed a mobile application – CORONTINE – that can help government authorities keep track of asymptomatic carriers of the coronavirus. The institute is also making available a modified version of another indigenously–developed app called SAFE that has been used by students to mark their attendance.

IIT-B officials said that they have written to BMC and state government about the potential use of both these apps but are yet to hear from them.

“To be accessible to government authorities, an authorised agency (AA) can install CORONTINE on the mobile phones of asymptomatic carriers,” said Manjesh Hanawal, a professor at IIT-B. “The app sends GPS coordinates of the mobiles periodically to a server under the supervision of AA. A user who jumps a specified quarantined zone marked by a geo-fence (100 or 300mts perimeter, for instance) will be automatically detected and alerts via sms or email will be generated, following which authorities can take necessary steps,” added Hanawal, who developed the app along with professor Ganesh Ramakrishnan from the department of computer science and engineering. SAFE, in addition to scheduled checks, can also conduct random inspections to detect if a person has left the phone and stepped outside his/her quarantined zone.“SAFE can trace if a person leaves their quarantine area or facility,” said Milind Atrey, dean, research and development, IIT-B.