Google Subsidiary Verily | 17 Mar 2020
Why in News
The company Verily has gone live with its Project Baseline website for COVID-19 testing.
- The website helps in determining whether a coronavirus screening test is required for a person living in the United States.
Key Points
- Verily is the life sciences and healthcare subsidiary owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet.
- Launched in 2015, Verily claims its mission is to “make the world’s health data useful so that people enjoy healthier lives”.
- Project Baseline was launched by Verily in 2017 with the goal of bridging the gap between research and care. A clear agenda is to create a detailed baseline of what a healthy human being should be using anonymised data from hundreds of users.
- Verily also owns Calico — acronym for “California Life Company” — researching into aging and related diseases.
Steps Taken by Technology Giants to Deal With COVID-19
- Google
- An “SOS Alert” on coronavirus searches across the world, giving prominence to posts from mainstream news publications and health authorities.
- SOS Alerts aim to make emergency information more accessible during a natural or human-caused crisis.
- It has also banned ads for face masks as well as monetisation on YouTube videos related to COVID-19. This seeks to disincentivise creation of fake videos promoting alternative treatments for the virus.
- An “SOS Alert” on coronavirus searches across the world, giving prominence to posts from mainstream news publications and health authorities.
- Microsoft
- Microsoft Bing team has launched a web portal for tracking COVID-19 infections worldwide.