Vijayawada: Youth develop app for self-assessment of Covid risk level

Vijayawada: Three youngsters have developed a web application for self-assessment of the Covid-19 risk. It will enable the users to know the risk level by staying home. The mobile phone users have to furnish answers to 11 questions in the application form, which is available at https://www.checkcovidnow.com. The questions can be answered in yes/no format and available in multiple languages. Software expert Sai Krishna Krovvidi of Vijayawada with the help of his two friends JSR Annamayya and J Vijay of Narasaraopet developed the web application.

The application has 11 questions on symptomatic and asymptomatic behavior, which is part of Covid19 infection. The questions were derived from the guidelines of WHO and ICMR, said Krishna Krovvidi. People who have symptomatic and asymptomatic behaviour can personally check their health condition with the web application. After entering the details in the yes/no format, the information is forwarded to the Medical and Health Department through mail and the officials will take further measures to find out whether the applicant faces risk of coronavirus.

The app does not collect the personal data of applicants like name, age and Aadhaar card number etc. The 11 questions contain whether the applicant has fever, headache, fatigue, cough, cold,diarrhoea, location of the district and State. If most answers are yes, the District Medical and Health Department will send the staff to meet the applicant and explain the need to take treatment. So far, a total of 35,000 people had utilised the web appl, said Krishna, Director of Karthikeya Infominds, a startup, at Nunna, near Vijayawada. At the end of the test, it will show the result of risk level (low, moderate, high) calculated using some algorithmic programming and possibility mentioned by WHO/ICMR.

This prediction of risk will help the user to understand the risk level and take necessary steps like getting isolated, quarantine, medical check-ups, social distancing to cure and prevent the spread of coronavirus. 'We will share the information of the tests recorded as HIGH risk to the respective Health/Medical Departments through an email instantly after the test so they can use this data for any resolution actions', said Krishna.

This application was initially offered in English. Based on the request from users of other states, now it uses Google translator to offer the website in multiple Indian languages. The web application can be used by people of many languages in the world.