Citizens Asked To Get COVID-19 Information On Official WhatsAPP Helpline

The Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination Friday asked the citizens to get the latest information and other assistance on the COVID-19 from the official corona helpline on WhatsApp

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 3rd Apr, 2020 ) :The Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination Friday asked the citizens to get the latest information and other assistance on the COVID-19 from the official corona helpline on WhatsApp.

According to a ministry official, the new service, which is free-to-use, provides a central source of accurate, trustworthy and up-to-date information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) for everyone in Pakistan.

He said the corona WhatsApp helpline was an automated 'chatbot' service, which would allow citizens to get answers to the most common questions about the coronavirus from the Ministry of Health round-the -clock.

He said the service would be available in English, urdu, Punjabi, Pashto, Sindhi, Baluchi and Kashmiri languages to provide information on topics such as coronavirus prevention and symptoms, the latest number of cases, and other trustworthy health information.

He said to use the free Pakistan Government Corona Helpline on WhatsApp, the citizens could simply save the number +92-300- 1111166 in phone contacts and then text any word in a WhatsApp message to get started. "A set of menu options is then presented which the user can choose from and then be sent relevant guidance from the Ministry of Health for further information." Meanwhile, Dr Zafar Mirza, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health, in his comments, said, "During this challenging time it is vitally important that the people get accurate, timely and official answers to questions they have about COVID-19 and its impact on their families and communities.

" "We encourage anyone with questions or concerns to use Coronavirus Hotline on WhatsApp, and to make sure that they only trust health advice from official sources, such as this service. We thank WhatsApp and Facebook for their prompt support and assistance in bringing this service to Pakistan." Matt Idema, COO of WhatsApp, said "At difficult times like these, people use WhatsApp more than ever to connect with and support their friends, family and communities. We are pleased to be able to provide Pakistan's Ministry of National Health Services with the communications tools to help them respond to citizens' questions about the virus with reliable, timely health advice, in order to keep people safe."The helpline had been built on the WhatsApp business API, in partnership with the Digital Pakistan team and Infobip's global communication platform to provide timely and critical information to people about COVID-19.

A number of health ministries around the world were already running coronavirus health information lines on WhatsApp, including the World Health Organization, South Africa's Department of Health, Australia, Brazil, and KOMINFO in Indonesia, with more services expected to launch in the coming days and weeks.