Government Launches Web Portal and Mobile App in Aid Against COVID-19

Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) has recently announced two new generals in this war against COVID-19. With clear intention of informing the people about the current situation of COVID-19 outbreak in Nepal, a web portal and an app by the name “Hamro Swasthya” has been launched.

A couple of days ago, the Ministry announced a viber community to disseminate information about COVID-19. The web portal and app are a slightly larger implementation of government’s “gestures” to inform the public about the ongoing pandemic.

An Introduction to the MoHP Web Portal

The web portal is addressed under the name: covid19.mohp.gov.np by the government and is made in collaboration with the company named NAXA. Basically, the portal engulfs all common aspects about the ongoing pandemic. In particular, it’s centered around the underlying conditions of the virus in Nepal. The portal also contains the official numbers related to the status of COVID-19 infected in the country, under observation and suspected cases, number of tests done, and death cases.
There are hotline numbers, a link redirecting to the viber community and a Play Store tunnel to the app. Aside from that, there’s a section that plainly describes what the Covid-19 is all about and how it came into being. Besides that, you have a list of available hospitals and labs that are currently treating and testing patients all around Nepal.

Additionally, there is a separate section directing to a E-Portal and FAQ page which I’ll leave for you to try out. The E-Portal is the Danphe Learning Platform; which has access to all the details and information in the form of documents, videos, and infographics about COVID-19 from WHO and MoHP. The registration part is pretty basic to log in and get busy reading.

What about the App?

Currently, you can only access the app only through the web portal. As per the developers, the app should be up in Google Play Store in a couple of days. Follow the link listed in the portal and the app should be downloaded automatically.

The app borrows most of the attributes from the web portal. A pretty interesting addition, is the section where you can take self-assessment if you think you have coronavirus (COVID-19) or have been in close contact with someone who has it. All you have to do is fill out a form asks basic symptoms related questions. Aside from that, there’s information regarding the virus; which you can check through the app as well.

There were times when I just couldn’t get the download started at all. Maybe it was my internet connection, I don’t know. So, if you do come across such situation, trying reloading the download link for a few times.

(MoHP video about the launch of web portal and app.)

Aside from the Ministry, Nepal Army (app page link) and Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) (app link) too have launched their own App regarding the pandemic. The latter two pretty much revolve around the same basic attributes. The Nepal Army’s app is pretty useless because the app just presents everything in a stretched manner. While the KMC app, has something called the Triage Test for a clearer test of infection; which is alike the self-assessment form of Ministry, however it presents a more detailed output.

Well, it’s pretty unclear at the moment as to why there are three separate apps. A single app is quite sufficient to give enough details about the pandemic. Creating three separate factions for a common purpose specifically in this situation of crisis just adds up to the confusion and complications.

So, that wraps up this article. Go check out the web portal and make sure to download the app as well. Instead of falling for fake news and wrong data, going through the official platforms once in a while is enough to get basic information.