By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, May 10:Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Ishwar Pokhrel Saturday visited the office of COVID-19 Crisis Management Centre-Operation (CCMC-Ops) at Chhauni and sought information about the latest updates and the situation of the coronavirus pandemic in Nepal.
DPM Pokhrel, who is also the coordinator of the CCMC-Ops, visiting the office inquired about the steps taken to prevent, control and treat COVID-19 cases.
Officials of four separate operation clusters built under the CCMC-Ops - Logistics, Medicines, Security and Media and IT Ops - briefed DPM Pokhrel about the current situation and future strategy
that should be taken by the government under the analysis of the CCMC-Ops.
Media persons were not allowed during the presentation and briefing session although they were invited to attend it. They were allowed only in mobile application launching session, an integrated COVID-19 mobile application of the government.
DPM Pokhrel inaugurated the app by switching it on from the CCMC-Ops. The mobile app can be downloaded either from the Google play store or by logging in to www.covid19.gov.np.
Following the briefing of the overall works and future steps to be taken by the CCMC-Ops, DPM Pokhrel instructed the officials and cluster heads of the CCMC to contribute in developing and designing strategic and preventive measures to contain and control possible transmission and spread of the virus in Nepal. DPM Pokhrel said Nepal can win the fight against the virus with joint efforts and dedication of people having knowledge and alertness from all quarters.
DPM Pokhrel also urged the CCMC officials to make the application user-friendly and bring it in the notice of all citizens so that they can use it from anywhere.
The real-time database-centric mobile application is designed at par with international standards, according to IT expert and one of the members of the application design team, Ram Prasad Dhungana. Taiwan, Singapore, China, Vietnam, among other countries, have designed the same type of application which is based on Bluetooth system through which the admin of the application developer can know the people's health condition by asking some questions after the user has downloaded it.
Dhungana said that the mobile app has both the features of tracking and tracing those suspected people who fill up the form or answer the questions asked by the application after its download.
Before and during the use of this application, the users should compulsorily switch their mobile phone's Bluetooth on so that the individual's real condition can be identified, said Dhungana. As per the answers given by the application users, the application will categorise them in green, yellow or red zones.
All the data and individual records of the mobile application users will be stored at the Government Integrated Data Centre (GIDC) established under the Ministry of Home Affairs. The latest mobile application of the CCMC-Ops integrates the records and information collected through separate mobile applications designed by the Home Ministry, Ministry of Health and Population and Nepal Police earlier.