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The World Health Organization’s WhatsApp Health Alert for the COVID-19 pandemic has attracted over 10 million users in just four days after its release, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO said on Monday. “Our new WhatsApp Health Alert has now attracted 10 million users since we launched it last Friday – this is just in 4 days – delivering reliable health information directly to their mobile phones,” he said at Monday's media briefing.
WHO, on Friday, had launched its WhatsApp Health Alert across the globe, partnering with the messaging service to provide people with accurate health information related to the coronavirus pandemic. The free service is active 24 hours a day. Government decision-makers can also provide the latest numbers and situation reports through the service.
“The WHO Health Alert will provide official information on topics such as how to protect yourself from infection, travel advice, and debunking coronavirus myths. The service is initially launched in English but will be available in all six United Nations languages - English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish - in coming weeks,” WHO had said in an official release.
The WHO Health Alert service can be accessed via +41 79 893 1892 number. Users can save the number in their phone and drop a ‘Hi’ text in a WhatsApp message to get started. The alert responds to a series of prompts and will be updated daily with the latest information.
WhatsApp last week had also launched the WhatsApp Coronavirus Information Hub at whatsapp.com/coronavirus in association with WHO, UN and UNDP to provide guidance for health workers, educators, community leaders, nonprofits, local governments and local businesses that rely on WhatsApp to communicate.
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Users can also access the service through the WhatsApp Coronavirus Information Hub. They can click on the WHO link on the homepage of the information hub to open up a chat with the WHO Health Alert if they have WhatsApp installed. Details on how to sign up for the health are also available on the front page of the WHO website. It will also be launching the Arabic, French and Spanish versions of the service later this week, Ghebreyesus said.
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