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Filipinos can now make informed decisions about mobility later Google launched a tool that displays critical information about infection trends of places in relation to coronavirus disease.
The tech giant’s new initiative can be found at google maps, a web mapping service that offers satellite images, aerial photography, street maps, interactive panoramic views of streets, and route planning, among others.
A user who wants to know if the place they will visit is a COVID-19 hotspot should open the application, touch the layers icon in the upper right corner and click on the option “View COVID-19 information.”
By clicking on it, the person will see the seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases from an area per 100,000 people, as well as a label that says whether the infection trend increases or decreases through colors. These are the following:
- Gray: less than 1 a case
- Yellow: 1-10 cases
- Orange: 10-20 cases
- Dark orange: 20-30 cases
- Red: 30-40 cases
- Dark red: more than 40 cases
COVID-19 data is available at the country level for all 220 countries and territories supported by the app, including the Philippines.
Data at the province and city level can also be viewed, if available.
Data is obtained from multiple authoritative sources including Johns Hopkins and the New York Times.
These sources get their data from World Health Organization and government health departments, along with local health agencies and hospitals.
“Many of these sources already feed COVID case information into Search, and we are now expanding this data to Google Maps.” Sujoy BanerjeeSaid the product manager of Google Maps in a blog.
“While getting around is more challenging these days, we hope these Google Maps features help you get where you need to be as safely and efficiently as possible,” he added.
The tool started rolling out around the world on Android and iOS devices last week.
Google Map initiative comes as the Philippines’ National Capital Region it is placed in the second least stringent level of quarantine measure, the general community quarantine (GCQ), where more sectors and industries are open.
Public transport can also operate in GCQ, albeit in a reduced capacity.
President Rodrigo duterte extended the GCQ phase in Metro Manila on Monday. It will remain in effect until October 31.
READ: Duterte extends GCQ in Metro Manila until October 31
This decision came after local Metro Manila CEOs sought a GCQ extension before graduating to a more lenient quarantine measure, modified GCQ, which opens up more sectors.
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