·         Daily updates on case numbers, vaccinations, and tests for each state of India
·         Some of the critical updates are available in 10 Indian languages
·         Predictions for cases (including the post-Omicron scenario) using the SUTRA model
·         External link to the CoWIN dashboard for vaccination data
·         External link to the INSACOG database of coronavirus variants
·         Served over 18 million requests from a quarter-million visitors over the past 30 days

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck India in early 2020, it became imperative to have a single consolidated “go-to” website for relevant information at national, state-wise, and even district-wise levels.  The website covid19india.org was started at this time and was the most popular website for such information, in addition to the Ministry website.

In August 2021, the creators of this website announced that they would no longer maintain up-to-date statistics after October 31,2021.  Knowing how crucial this information is to Indians of all hues (researchers, students, and the public), the Director of IIT Hyderabad authorized a team of developers at IITH to carry on the work beyond November 1^, 2021The outcome of our efforts is the website covid19tracker.in, which is built using the public code base of covid19india.org website.

Expressing his delight on this milestone during the launch, Prof B S Murty, Director, IIT Hyderabad said, “IIT Hyderabad is delighted to host this website, which will be an important resource for everyone interested in data related to the COVID-19 pandemic in India.  Our site has attracted considerable traffic despite having been created so recently.  In fact, we have noted with pleasure that the Worldometers website for India uses just two sources: our site, and that of MoHFW.  I congratulate Prof Bheemarjuna Reddy Tamma and his team and Prof Vidyasagar for his mentorship for bringing up such an impressive site in such a short time. The Indian public can count on IIT Hyderabad to provide uninterrupted and up-to-date data on all aspects of the pandemic.”

Speaking about objective of the covid19tracker.in Prof M Vidyasagar FRS, Distinguished Professor at IITH said: “Currently, we have gone beyond the original website by including predictions for the future course of the pandemic, generated by the SUTRA Consortium of which IIT Hyderabad is a member.  Most recently, we have included the projections for the post-Omicron scenario as well. In the future, we plan to enhance the website by including a search feature to highlight trends and raise alerts as and when required.  If resources permit, we will monitor not just India but other countries as well.  The emergence of the Omicron variant of concern shows that India cannot collect and monitor its data in isolation.”

Talking about the technical attribute of the portal, Prof Bheemarjuna Reddy Tamma, Chair, Computer Centre, IITH, said, “We are sourcing data mainly from state bulletins, official social handles, www.cowin.gov.in website, and www.mohfw.gov.in website while updating case numbers, vaccination doses administered, the number of tests conducted, etc. in our covid19tracker.in website.  While the front-end of our website has the same user interface as that of the original website (covid19india.org), the back-end was developed in-house by a group of enthusiastic students of IIT Hyderabad and maintained by the staff members of Computer Center, IIT Hyderabad. The website has been hosted on a public cloud platform to make it highly scalable and responsive even when web traffic shoots up. As expected, the website has been attracting a lot of visitors.  It has served over 18 million requests from a quarter-million visitors over the past 30 days.” 

“I wish to place on record my sincere appreciation and gratitude to the following students/staff members of IIT Hyderabad for their unwavering commitment towards launching this new website on short notice and thereby keeping people informed about Covid-19 spread and vaccination status in the country: Anand Sai Dontu,  Anurag Chandra Shukla, Imtiaz Ahmed, Karthik Reddy Puli, Krishnam Dhanush, Pradeepa Kumari N, Rahul Teja M, Rupa Bhavani Ponnuru, and Sharath Chandra Sheripally. If anyone has access to any data sources related to Covid-19 or wish to provide any feedback on the new website and APIs provided, please write to us at covid.tracker@iith.ac.in”, added Prof Reddy.

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