Facebook today announced a plan to support government health organizations worldwide to fight the new coronavirus.
Beginning this week, the company's development partners will provide WHO and UN health agencies with Messenger-Facebook ’s instant messaging service with more than 1.3 billion users-to expand its response to the crisis.
Facebook's plan is international, and its goal is to connect government health agencies with developers so that developers can share information about the new coronavirus in a timely and accurate manner.
The tech giant said that several of its partners have already expressed their willingness to provide services for free and that they will help with issues such as answering frequently asked questions automatically.
Stan Chudnovsky, vice president of Facebook Messenger, said that as part of the project, developers will also show WHO how to share updated information with users and how to transition from automatic conversations to real-time agents when necessary.
"Communities around the world are dealing with quarantines and other disruptions to daily life because of the coronavirus outbreak," Chudnovsky said in a statement.
"As is common in any crisis, people are using digital channels like Messenger to stay connected and get information from trusted health authorities that are on the front lines fighting this global pandemic."
Organizations such as UNICEF and Pakistan's National Health Service, Management and Coordination Agency (NHSRC) are already using Messenger to ensure that people have the latest information on the new coronavirus.
The same is true of the Argentine Ministry of Health and Innovation, which introduced a Messenger feature to answer questions about the new coronavirus to the public and provide official advice 24/7.
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