Google to map oxygen, hospital beds amid surging Covid-19 cases in India – Economic Times

New Delhi: Google is testing a new feature in Google Maps to locate available hospital beds and medical oxygen in India, even as the country continues to clock a record number of Covid-19 cases and deaths on a daily basis.

The new feature, currently in pilot stage, uses the Q&A function in Google Maps to allow people to ask about and share local information on availability of beds and medical oxygen in select locations.

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The Mountain View, California-headquartered company has also rolled out a COVID Aid campaign on Google Pay to allow people to contribute to non-profit organisations (NGOs) involved in Covid-19 response. It will help NGOs like GiveIndia, Charities Aid Foundation, Goonj, Save the Children, Seeds, UNICEF India (National NGOs) and United Way to raise funds, helping those most in need. The internal campaign has so far raised over $4.6 million (Rs 33 crore) to date, Google said.

In addition to showing 2,500 testing centres on Search and Maps, Google is also sharing the locations of more than 23,000 vaccination centres nationwide, in english and eight regional languages. "Were continuing to work closely with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to make more vaccination center information available to users throughout India."

"As India battles this devastating wave, well keep doing all we can to support the selfless individuals and committed organizations on the front lines of the response. Theres a long way to gobut standing together in solidarity, working together with determination, we can and will turn the tide," the company said in a post.

The government had on Friday sent an advisory to social media platformssuch as Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter and Instagramto initiate awareness campaigns among users to not circulate any false news or misinformation" that is likely to create panic among the public and disturb the public order.

They were also asked to take immediate action to disable or remove such content, promote dissemination of authentic information related to the Covid-19 outbreak and issue warnings to imposters who misuse the platforms.

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Google to map oxygen, hospital beds amid surging Covid-19 cases in India - Economic Times