Google launches new features in India to help in COVID-19 fight
Being the world’s second-most populous nation, India is in a precarious position during this COVID-19 pandemic. Google expressed its commitment to helping the government and the people have access to information and tools that can help them to “stay informed and connected”. They are bringing these tools to some of the most commonly used Google products like Search, Maps, YouTube, and Google Assistant. This includes a dedicated website available in multiple languages as well as mobility report to help public health officials in their decision-making.
One thing that Google is doing is to help curb misinformation, which is pretty common in India. And so when you search for anything about coronavirus or COVID-19, they are bringing you consolidated results from authoritative sources including The WHO, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), and other legitimate news sources. YouTube is also really big in India and so COVID-19 information will also be highlighted in the homepage, search, and recommendation systems. They’re also removing harmful videos like those that discourage people from seeking treatment or promoting unsubstantiated remedies.
They’re also launching a COVID-19 India website where things like live statistics and updated information are just in one place. It is now available in English, Hindi, and Marathi for smartphones, English and Hindi via Google Assistant for KaiOS feature phones, and soon they will be adding more Indian languages. They also collaborated with the MoHFW to launch a pubic service campaign called “Do the Five” to spread safety and prevention best practices.
Millions of Indian citizens, particularly migrant workers, have been affected by the lockdown and are suffering from lack of food and shelter since they have been unable to return to their hometowns. Google Search, Maps, and Google Assistant now has information for locations of food and night shelters that have been set up by the government in more than 33 cities across the country.
Google also released their COVID-19 Community Mobility Reports to help public health officials with their decision making when it comes to public policies. It has information about traffic and movement across public places, gathered through the same anonymized insights from products like Google Maps.
