Express Computer just talked about how the White House has been proactively reaching out to tech giants, the Indian Government too has been taking a front step. The Government has roped in technology firm Google, WhatsApp, and also is in talks with Facebook. This would be in order to run massive information outreach campaigns to fight out the Covid-19 pandemic.
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MyGovt Corona Helpdesk, a chatbot on Corona, has been launched by the Government, where saying Hi on WhatsApp at 9013151515, would be getting an automated response on queries related to Corona.
Additionally, Google has also been customising its India search page with the campaign, “DO THE FIVE. Help stop coronavirus”, also contains a link to the Ministry of Health page. This page displays important information on the pandemic, together with real-time data on the number of positive cases, their locations and reported deaths.
A government official told a national publication that the government is exploring all possible technology solutions to deal with the contemporary challenge of Covid-19. The Google initiative was being launched on Thursday and there have been talks for collaborating with some other big platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook.
Also, India is one of Google’s largest markets, with 400 million users, India is also the largest market for WhatsApp, while Facebook has over 260 million users in India. Government officials said Google has approached the Government for partnering on this, and it is also changing search algorithms to provide information from sources like the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Besides the ‘Do The Five’ social campaign, Google also issued Push Notifications on the Google App for Android and iOS users in India. This is specifically to highlight important informations.
There have been other initiatives like SOS Alerts, country-specific Search Trends pages snd also a promo card on the YouTube homepage. This links back to the MoHFW website, for updated information.