Tech Giants like Apple Inc and Google are introducing New Features for putting up a Fight against COVID-19

After Google, Apple Inc announced on Tuesday, that they would provide data to help public health authorities in preventing the spread of the novel Coronavirus. Statistics on the volume of people driving, walking or taking public transportation would be gathered and given to the officials. All Apple users have Apple maps installed as an inbuilt feature. The data will be gathered by counting the number of routing requests. The volume of people moving at present will be compared with past usage to detect changes in the volume and assess the reduction in percentage.

Apple said, the information will be updated on a day to day basis and it will be compared to a date in mid- January before U. S went into lockdown. According to media reports by CNN- News 18, In the San Francisco Bay Area, requests for driving directions as of April 12 were down 70% versus Jan. 13, and requests for transit directions plunged 84%. Similarly, In New York City, driving direction requests were down 69% and transit requests were down 89%.

One cannot be certain about the effectiveness of this initiative in a country like India where the number of android users is far more than the number of apple users. The huge digital divide between different classes of the society could also be a deterrent.

Google also launched a similar feature wherein; the locations of food and night shelters will be added to Google Maps. This was lauded as a step in the right direction. The Delhi government on Tuesday, announced that it is working along with Google to locate shelter and food places in Delhi using Google maps. An infographics shared by the Chief Minister’s Office of Delhi reveals that around 1000 shelters, offering a food and place to sleep, are now listed on Google Maps.