Google calls it COVID-19 risk screening and testing while Microsoft calls it Bing COVID Tracker.
Coronavirus or COVID-19 needs no introduction whatsoever; it is a respiratory illness that has wreaked havoc across the globe and has brought almost every industry in the world at a standstill. Be it aviation or business, trade or shipping, agriculture or hospitality, and tourism, there is no industry that isn’t bearing the brunt of this pandemic.
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Naturally, tech firms are trying to do their best in spreading awareness about the virus and helping out people learn to deal with the situation. Microsoft and Google are the first ones to have come up with some sort of technological solution for the users.
Bing COVID Tracker
Reportedly, the IT team behind Microsoft’s Bing has designed the COVID-19 tracker, which was officially launched on Sunday, March 15th.
The tracker has many useful features such as it has a Live Map to monitor confirmed cases of the disease both globally and in different countries individually.
In the case of the USA, you can get the number of confirmed cases according to the state. To learn about the cases identified in a particular country, users only need to click on the name and the tracker will display the latest statistics including a total number of fatalities and recoveries, news and videos. It is called Bing COVID Tracker and can be accessed here.
There is nothing too extraordinary about this tracker though; its NEWS tab for countries currently doesn’t offer any news, and it more or less offers the same information that Johns Hopkins University’s live map offers. However, the difference between both the maps is that Microsoft’s tracker is more interactive, well-designed, fast, and mobile-friendly.
Google’s COVID-19 risk screening and testing
Much on the same line is the COVID-19 screening website launched by Google’s parent firm Alphabet’s Verily. Verily is the subsidiary of Google; it is responsible for life sciences and healthcare researches and software solutions.
For now, the screening website, which can be accessed here, is designed primarily for two of the counties in California, Santa Clara, and San Mateo. The website launch seems like a result of the remarks made by President Donald Trump that Google is developing its coronavirus online testing service.
This screening service is hosted via Verily’s advance clinical research initiative Project Baseline. It offers people up-to-date but somewhat limited information about coronavirus screening considering that it is currently focused on two testing sites located in the San Francisco Bay Area. The website is designed to serve as an online screener that helps users understand if they qualify for a Coronavirus test.
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Upon entering the website, visitors are asked some standard questions such as if they are experiencing symptoms like fever, shortness of breath or severe cough. If the patient answers Yes, the test ends and if the user answers No, the next question appears. The user must have a Gmail ID to use this service. Verily has partnered with the federal government as well as the California Governor’s Office.
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