In the wake of Covid-19, Prabin Kumar Das, a B Tech student (Electronics Communication and Engineering) at Lovely Professional University (LPU) along with his professors has developed an IoT device called KAWACH’ to promote safe social distancing. The device, which can be worn as a pendant, vibrates and glows in case someone breaches the user’s safe space of 1 metre.

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, social distancing is a non-pharmaceutical infection prevention and control intervention implemented to avoid/decrease contact between those who are infected with a disease-causing pathogen and those who are not, so as to stop or slow down the rate and extent of disease transmission in a community.

This eventually leads to decrease in spread, morbidity and mortality due to the disease. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recommended a minimum 1 metre distance between oneself and anyone who is coughing or sneezing. KAWACH has been designed to help people adhere to this guideline.