Apart from doing our duty of social distancing and washing hands, there is one more important thing to do in this time of crisis: combat misinformation that's being propagated on social media. While companies like Google, Facebook, and Microsoft are already doing their bit, the World Health Organisation (WHO) is ramping up its efforts to spread the truth. The global health agency is now preparing to launch an app that will be a one-stop destination for news, alerts, and tips about the COVID-19 pandemic.
The app is likely to be launched under the name ‘WHO MyHealth’. The idea of the app was proposed by a team that has members who are former employees of Google and Microsoft, WHO advisors, ambassadors, and industry experts. According to a report, the app may launch on as early as March 30 on both Android and iOS platforms. Below are the screenshots from 9to5google, which was able to get its hands on an early work-in-progress version of the app.
The app is likely to offer alert notifications specific to a user’s location, as well as offer 'self-triage' tools to users to help them diagnose the symptoms of COVID-19, if they have any. Reportedly, the app may also use ‘Google Maps to indicate whether they have been diagnosed or have come into contact with COVID-19 patients’.
The Indian government is also testing two versions of an app that will apprise the users whether they have come in contact with COVID-19 patients. The app will use users’ phone numbers and their location data to match their movements with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) data, which includes the information about the movements of patients who have tested positive for the virus.
