Google has announced different features and more to help fight against the Coronavirus pandemic. The company has revealed new tools to provide the right information about the COVID-19 outbreak along with new features.
To start with, it will curb misinformation across various platforms and it will showcase prominent information fro the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and international health authorities across Google Search, Maps, YouTube and COVID-19 Spot on Google Play. The company has revealed that on the Search page when a person launches a query for Coronavirus they will see a page with consolidated information including the top news stories, links to MoHFW resources, as well as access to authoritative content on symptoms, prevention, treatments and more.
The brand is also elevating authoritative information source for Coronavirus on its YouTube channel platform and it has also introduced Coronavirus News Shelf on the YouTube Homepage. Furthermore, Youtube is also removing reported videos that violate YouTube’s community guidelines, including those that discourage people from seeking medical treatment or encourage the use of unsubstantiated remedies to treat COVID-19.
Google has also revealed that it will provide locations of hundreds of food and night shelters set up by the government across the country. The information can be accessed on Google Maps, Google Search and Google Assistant. The feature includes more than 33 cities with over 1,500 food and night shelters. One can use both English and Hindi languages to access the information and it will bring other Indian languages over the coming weeks.
The information can also be accessed via Google Assistant on KaiOS in both Hindi and English. Simply ask ‘ में भोजन केंद्र’ and ‘ में रैन बसेरा’, or ‘Food shelters in ’ and ‘Night shelters in ’. Vodafone-Idea subscribers can also use the Phone Line offering that enables 2G feature phone users to get details of nearby food and night shelters by dialling the toll-free number 000 800 9191 000 and using the queries above.
Google has also introduced COVID-19 Spot on Google Pay that helps users donate to PM-CARES or to NGOs such as SEEDs, Give India, United Way and Charities Aid Foundation. Donations to PM-CARES on Google Pay have thus far collected over Rs 105 crores. On Google Pay, the brand has introduced Nearby Spot that helps users see local stores providing essentials like groceries, which are currently open. The Nearby Spot has been rolled out in Bengaluru and will be launching in Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, and Delhi soon.