Apps up their game against Covid

CHENNAI: With every passing day, the Covid-19 situation is becoming more grim in the country. In such a time of crisis, many people are coming forward to help the needy in their own ways.  The application development companies are also not much far behind. To help the Covid-infected persons, these companies are doing their bit in the fight against the pandemic by diverting and integrating Covid-19 facilities on their apps.

Truecaller, a caller ID service provider app, has launched a Covid Hospital Directory, allowing users in India to easily find hospitals and care facilities in their area. The directory is built right into the app and can be accessed from either the menu or the dialler. “The directory includes telephone numbers and addresses of Covid-19 designated hospitals from multiple States across the country, sourced from the government database,” said the company.

“We wanted to quickly introduce a simple directory of important numbers for Covid-related services. We have started with this hospital list and we’re working to add more verified sources soon,” said the company.  sRide, a carpooling app, which has over 2 million users has launched a new service called sNeighbour. This unique location-based discovery app enables neighbours to seek help and provide support to those in need during these testing times.

Lakshna Jha, co-founder of sRide, said many facilities are suffering and need help with food, groceries, medicines, and life-saving equipment. sNeighbour will help the needy to get in touch with neighbours and individuals willing to help them. “With  sNeighbour, we have augmented our existing technology infrastructure and network of 2M+ users in a way that can make a positive grassroots-level impact. The intent is to provide a platform for people to come together and form communities, where they can engage and exchange help and support with each other,” said Jha.

Within minutes of its launch on Android Playstore, sNeighbour received over 100 registrations with 50 per cent posting about the help they can provide with medicines, cooked food, groceries, and ride to vaccination centres. Global software firms EPAM and ThoughtWorks came forward to join the cause and encouraged their employees to use the platform to provide and seek help as required, the company claimed.

Similarly, a dating app, TrulyMadly, is using its matchmaking algorithms to do “plasma matchmaking”. It has added a new feature plasma matchmaking in its app, which will help patients find the right matches when they were desperately looking for donors.