Google CEO Sundar Pichai has announced a new campaign — Do The Five — to create awareness about the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Currently, Google is creating a new website dedicated to COVID-19. The website will provide users with information and resources on how to reduce the risk of coronavirus infection. Google is releasing the initial version of the website late Monday.
Google launches a COVID-19 info site
Pichai says Google will continue to update the website with more resources on an ongoing basis:
“This includes best practices on prevention, links to authoritative information from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and helpful tips and tools from Google for individuals, teachers and businesses.”
In addition to Google creating awareness about COVID-19 through many of its services like Search, Maps, and YouTube, Google is now promoting the ‘Do the Five’ campaign on its homepage.
If you go to the Google Homepage, you will find a message – “DO THE FIVE. Help stop coronavirus” If you click on the message, Google will provide you with the list of five WHO-recommended measures you can take to slow the spread of the disease:
- HANDS Wash them often
- ELBOW Cough into it
- FACE Don’t touch it
- FEET Stay more than 3ft apart
- FEEL sick? Stay home
Google says these tips have already been seen by millions of users in the U.S. Meanwhile, Pichai has also shared these tips on his personal social media accounts.
Google’s COVID-19 SOS Alerts now provide users with links to national health authority sites as well as a map of affected areas from the WHO.
Meanwhile, the YouTube homepage now directs users to videos from the Federal agency Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or other locally relevant public health agencies.
“We’re highlighting content from authoritative sources when people search for COVID-19, and inserting information panels to provide additional context from high-quality sources.”
Google has also launched a new site at google.com/covid19 that gives all information about the outbreak.
Aiming to help employees work from home, Google has already made the premium features of the Meet video conferencing app available to all G Suite customers for free until July 1.
Meanwhile, Microsoft is also temporarily offering Teams for free. Microsoft has also launched a website that tracks the number of COVID-19 cases around the world.
