BBC Focus - 04.2020_

INNOVATIONSDISCOVERIES

Headspace

Theapphasa free‘weathering

thestorm’sectionfullofguide

meditations,sleepsand

exercisesdesignedtohelptho

strugglingwiththeanxietyand

isolationcreatedbythe

coronavirus pandemic.

alm

e teambehindthisapphave

lledtogethera pageof

sourcestohelppeoplefind

eircalmin themidstofthe

ndemic.In particular,their

eeprangewillhelp you drift

ff, crisis or not.

Sanvello

Thisappis dedicatedto

providingmentalhealthca

wheredoctorscan’t.It

ncludesguidedmeditation

copingtools,assessments

peersupport.It’sfreedurin

the COVID-19 crisis.

BothGoogleandFacebookarereportedtobetalking

withgovernmentsabouthowtousethelocation

datatheycollectfromourphonestohelptrackthe

spreadofcoronavirusacrosstheUK, US, and

presumablyothercountriestoo.

If you’venevercheckedyourprivacysettingson

GoogleorFacebook,thenthechancesarethatboth

aregatheringlargeamountsofsurprisinglyaccurate

dataonyourmovements.Takenacrossa population,

thisinformationcanpaintanunprecedented

pictureofhowpeoplearegatheringandmoving,

andthereforehowthevirusmightspreading. The

workis initsearlystages,accordingtoan

anonymoussourcespeakingtoTheWashington

Post. Bothcompanieshaveconfirmedthey’ve

spokenwithgovernmentofficialsbutstress they

haven’thandedoveranyprivatedata.

Governmentsarebecomingincreasingly

desperatetoslowthespreadofcoronavirusbefore it

overwhelmshospitals.Andthistoolcouldlet

officialsfindoutwhetherthepublicis observing

thesocialdistancing guidelines suggested to stem

theoutbreak.

Thebigtechcompanieswanttoanonymisethe

databeforeanalysingtrendsthatmightemerge.And

Googleis alreadyinvestigatingwhetherdata

gathered fromGoogleMapscouldprovideinsights

inthesamewayit alreadydoestotell

userswhena shopor restaurant’s

peakhoursare.

IntheUK,themobilephone

networkO2is currentlyworkingwith

thegovernmenttoseewhetherthey

couldusecellulardatatogenerate

heatmaps,whichcouldreveal

whetherpeoplereallyaresocial

distancing.Meanwhile,thetravel-

planningappCitymapperhasaddeda

mobility index feature which takes

thedatait collectstoanalysehowmuchthepeople

ina cityaremovingcomparedtousual.On

Saturday 21 March,Londonusersweremovingat

23 percentoftheusualrate,whileItaliancitieslike

Milanwerehoveringaroundthe4 percentmark.

Criticsofthiskindofdata-sharingareaskingfor

moretransparency on how the data is being

anonymised.

MeanwhileWhatsApp,themessagingapp,is in

talkswiththeNHStosetupa chatbotthatwillhelp

peoplegetbasicinformationaboutthepandemic.

Thisfollowsa similarservice set up by the World

HealthOrganization.

Elsewhereintheworld,tech’sbeingusedin

increasinglyinventivewaystoencourageustostay

home.A securitycompanyinAustin,Texas,saysit

cantrainthermalcamerastospotpeoplewith

feversat supermarkets,hospitalsandgovernment

buildings.InSpain,policehaveturnedtodronesto

helpthemyellat peoplestillonthestreetsafter

governmentadvicetostayhome. The country is

nowofficially on lockdown.

Google and Facebook could use the data they collect to track how coronavirus spreads

Big tech takes on the pandemic

CORONAVIRUS

MENTAL HEALTHAPPS HELPOUT

“INSPAIN,POLICE

HAVETURNEDTO

DRONESTOHELP

THEMYELLAT

PEOPLESTILLON

THE STREETS”

�

Techgiantsare

usingdataonour

movementstotrack

howCOVID-19

might spread

GET T Y IMAGES X2