A team of developers in India has created a new app that is supported by Johns Hopkins University in the US and designed to guide people isolating at home after testing Covid-19 positive, right on their smartphones.

The Vee+ Svasa app — developed by Bengaluru and New York-headquartered IT services company Vee Technologies, and made possible by the Valliappa Foundation — delivers educational videos, information about accessing local medical care and Covid vaccines, and other content sourced by medical experts, right to users’ smartphones.

Created by a team of software developers of Vee Technologies located in Bengaluru and Salem, the app has sourced content and expertise of medical practitioners at Johns Hopkins University and Medicine in the US, the company said in a statement.

The Vee+ Svasa was enriched by inputs of nearly 100 teams of students from Sona College of Technology who competed for a Rs 1 lakh student prize.

The winning teams that emerged from this competition — Senthil Sivaraman S, Harsh Vardhan SM, Ragul P and Shreinik Jain U — were chosen to support the app building and running process.

“We reached out to Johns Hopkins India Institute to give access to the globally accepted standard of care protocols for home isolation cases. For Indians battling the Covid pandemic, this would be immensely helpful,” said Valliappa Foundation Trustee Chocko Valliappa.

The home quarantine app has a wealth of authentic information ranging from treating oneself at home to how to isolate oneself and protect others in the family, to tips for caregivers on measuring oxygen saturation levels as well as an easy-to-understand Covid treatment flowchart.

The information and health protocols presented in the app come only from authentic sources, such as Johns Hopkins University, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) as well as the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

“We were overwhelmed by the instant response of Johns Hopkins Medicine International President of global ventures and executive VP and doctor, Mohan Chellappa and his colleagues of Indian origin, to help us gain access to the globally accepted standard of care material,” Valliappa added.

The app will also feature existing services offered by state governments like locating hospital beds, vaccination centres, and doctors on tele-consultation in key cities.

The app is available on Google Play Store while iOS version of the app will be launched soon.