National directives for COVID-19 Management issued

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.