UPSC Articles
National directives for COVID-19 Management issued
Part of: GS Prelims and GS-II – Health; GS-III – Disaster management
In News:
- Union Government has recently issued a list of National Directives for COVID-19 management while extending the lockdown period till 3rd May, 2020.
Key takeaways:
- Spitting in public is prohibited and punishable with a fine.
- Wearing of face cover in work places and public places has been made compulsory.
- No organization and manager of public spaces shall allow gathering of five or more persons.
- Gatherings such as marriages and funerals shall remain regulated by the District Magistrate.
- There will be a strict ban on sale of items such as liquor, gutka and tobacco.
- All work places must have adequate arrangements for temperature screening and provide sanitizers at convenient places.
- Work places should have a gap of one hour between shifts and lunch breaks to ensure social distancing.
- Both private and public work places are asked to encourage the use of Arogya Setu for all employees.
Important value additions:
Arogya Setu
- Aarogya Setu is a COVID-19 tracking mobile application
- It is developed by the National Informatics Centre that comes under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India.
- The purpose of this app is to spread the awareness and to connect essential health services to the people of India.
- It uses smartphone’s GPS and Bluetooth features to track the coronavirus infection.
- It is an updated version of an earlier app called Corona Kavach (now discontinued).
- Aarogya Setu has four sections:
- Your Status: tells the risk of getting COVID-19 for the user.
- Self-Assess: lets the user know the risk of being infected.
- COVID-19 Update: gives update on the local and national COVID-19 cases.
- E-pass:yet to go active.
