If you’re planning to fly after the lockdown is lifted then be prepared for a host of changes and conditions that are going to be placed. According to multiple news reports, the country’s aviation ministry is going to make it mandatory for all fliers to download the Aarogya Setu app and making sure they are low risk to board the plane, wherein they will come in close contact with other people.
The government promoted contact tracing app is claimed to have been downloaded by more than 90 million users since its debut in the first week of April, but many people have argued the need to make the app mandatory, which is leading to discrimination on the basis of an app that’s merely reporting data. The government has already made it mandatory for its employees, and also private companies to follow suit for its workforce, but the app’s use case has been somewhat hard to understand since most of the people have been confined indoors since the lockdown.
In addition to having the app on their phone, the fliers are most likely going to need a medical certificate from the doctor as well as thermal checking at the airport. So making the app mandatory and its results a parameter to allow or restrict flying is rather perplexing. This report comes few weeks after theCentral Industry Security Force (CISF)mentioned that using the contact tracing app will be mandatory for boarding the Delhi Metro. This according to themcould ensure that people are able to test themselves for the virus, and if they are reported as high risk (red colour on the app), they would be discouraged from using the metro.
Aarogya Setu has raised privacy concerns as well, since the app is said to be using location services, and nobody knows how the government plans on utilising it for tracing purpose. The app is also being launched on feature phones via the IVRS method, offering them voice call based checkups, while Jio is already working with Niti Aayog to launch the app on its 4G-enabled JioPhone.