Tiruvallur superintendent of police P
Aravindhan
has helped create an
app
called ‘CoBuddy’ to facilitate a platform between people on home
quarantine
for Covid-19 and the state government. Presently , it’s not available for public use.
The 2010-batch IPS officer, a computer science engineering graduate, said the app will send
interactive voice response
(IVR) alerts to those in quarantine.
“We have taken photographs of those in quarantine using the app. As soon as they receive an IVR alert, they have to take a selfie using the app. The photograph will be scrutinised and if it doesn’t match their profile, the application will send an alert to the control room. If it matches, the photo will be erased.”
This helps us to ensure that the people in quarantine keep their phone with them always, he said. If they don’t respond, the app will send us an alert and the respective police station can be informed to check the presence of the resident, said the officer.
Apart from this, Aravindhan said they can send individual and group messages using the app. They can also send WHO-issued questionnaire to those on home quarantine to check their temperature and update it in the app. An SOS button has been provided using which they can seek help anytime.
Using the app, those on home quarantine can send messages to others who access the app, if they need any personalised services such as purchase of vegetables, fruits and medicines.