Technology key in fight against Covid-19, says PM Modi as India offers CoWin to world

Technology was integral to the fight against Covid-19, Prime Minister Narenda Modi has said.

Addressing the CoWin Global Conclave on Monday, he urged the countries from all over the world to combat Covid-19 together.

India has already said it will provide CoWin, a vaccine registration platform, as a digital public good to other nations to conduct their own vaccination drive against the coronavirus disease.

PM Modi said, “We have to learn from each other and guide each other about our best practices. Right from the beginning of this pandemic, India has been committed to sharing all our experiences, expertise and resources with the global community in this pandemic".

Talking about CoWin, PM Modi said that people do not have to carry "fragile pieces of paper" to prove anything to get inoculated as details are available in digital format. The software can be customised to any country as per its local requirements, he added.

The Prime Minister stressed that today's Conclave is the first step to introduce this platform to the global audience. He informed that through CoWin, India has administered 350 million doses of Covid vaccines, including 9 million people in one day, a few days ago.

The CoWin Global Conclave aims to share India’s experience regarding universal vaccination to combat Covid-19 through CoWIN, according to the National Health Authority (NHA). “India is excited to join hands with the world to win over Covid-19 together with Co-WIN,” the NHA said in its statement.

Further, the Prime Minister noted that technology is integral to our fight against Covid-19. He said that software is one area that made the tracking and tracing of Covid patients possible and allowed to provide the essentials to the needy.

That's why India made its Covid tracking and tracing App open source as soon as it was technically feasible. He pointed out that with nearly 200 million users, the 'Aarogya Setu' app is a readily available package for developers. Having been used in India, the Prime Minister told the global audience, you can be sure that it has been tested in the real world for speed and scale.

The Prime Minister also conveyed his condolences for all the lives lost to the pandemic, in all the countries. He remarked that there is no parallel to such a pandemic in hundred years and no nation, however powerful, can solve a challenge like this in isolation.

“The biggest lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic is that for humanity and the human cause, we have to work together and move ahead together. We have to learn from each other and guide each other about our best practices” said the Prime Minister.

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan inaugurated the event. Other top central government officials including NHA’s chief executive officer (CEO) Dr RS Sharma, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla and Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan also addressed the gathering.

India started its nationwide vaccination drive on January 16 this year, where doses were administered to citizens in phases.

Currently, people above the age of 18 are being inoculated against Covid-19.
In a major development aimed towards speeding up the vaccination drive, the central government started inoculating all adults above 18 free at government vaccination centres from June 21. The announcement for the same was made by PM Modi in his address to the nation on May 31.

The government is planning to vaccinate all adult citizens by the end of 2021.