Amazon Alexa will now find the nearest COVID-19 vaccination centres for you

The COVID-19 pandemic brought disastrous effects in the lives of people and suddenly, it became really tough to find authentic information. Though several tech companies have tried hard to fill these gaps, it has become a tough situation for everyone.

Amidst all this, ecommerce giant Amazon has announced that it has come up with a massive update on Alexa as from now onwards, it will allow users to get authentic information regarding the pandemic and the nearest vaccination centres by just asking Alexa a question. 

In 2020, Amazon came out with an update on Alexa in India which had a smart assistant to share information about COVID-19 symptoms and cases in India. 

But the current update is an upgrade to that as it helps in fetching information regarding vaccination centres, vaccine availability, COVID-19 helpline numbers among others. Amazon further said that all of this information is sourced from the Indian government’s CoWIN portal, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare website as well as MapmyIndia.

So now with Alexa, you can easily locate the nearest COVID-19 testing centre along with the travel distance. All users need to do is say, "Alexa, where can I get a COVID-19 test?".

Next, Alexa will help users identify the closest Covid-19 vaccination centre where vaccines are available. “Alexa recognizes your location from your device registration and provides a list of all the vaccination centres near you. You can use this information to time your visit to the CoWIN portal for booking an appointment. Just say, "Alexa, where can I get a COVID vaccine?,” Amazon wrote in a blog post.

Besides that, Alexa users will also help in searching the nearest vaccination centres along with the pin codes using Alexa’s Vaccine Info skill. If the vaccine is not available, then Alexa will set a reminder to check with the skill if the vaccine is available the next day. Just say, "Alexa, open vaccine info".

Amazon further said that it has collaborated with many NGOs such as Akshaya Patra, Give India and Goonj to make the process of donations easier. Just say, “Alexa, donate now’’ and Alexa will send an app notification and an SMS containing Amazon.in/donate link, where users will be able to complete the transaction.

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