WHO, Facebook and Microsoft team up to help develop software to tackle coronavirus
- A number of technology companies, in partnership with the World Health Organisation (WHO), would soon organise a hackathon
- The hackathon is intended to create the platform for the development of software that could combat the coronavirus
- Companies involved in the event include Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, WeChat, TikTok, Pinterest, Slack and Giphy
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The World Health Organisation (WHO) has partnered with Facebook, Microsoft and other technology companies to organize a hackathon aimed at promoting the development of software that can combat the coronavirus.
Other technology companies participating in the programme are Twitter, WeChat, TikTok, Pinterest, Slack and Giphy.
Codenamed the #BuildforCOVID19 hackathon, the event was announced on Tuesday, March 24, 2020, and would be accepting project submissions from Thursday, March 26 to Monday, March 30, 2020.
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The top projects would be announced on Friday, April 3, 2020.
Per a report by CNBC, the technology companies would be sharing resources to support participants for the entire duration of the submission period.
In a post promoting the hackathon, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook indicated that features such as Blood Donations and Crisis Response were built during hackathons.
He, therefore, expressed optimism that useful prototypes and ideas would emerge from the programme.
YEN.com.gh understands that the hackathon is aimed at encouraging software developers to create projects focused on health, vulnerable populations, businesses, community, education and entertainment.
The John Hopkins University has revealed that there currently over 375,498 cases of the coronavirus with at least 16,362 deaths around the world.
In other news, three technology companies, Apple, Facebook and Tesla, have revealed plans of donating a total of 9,970,000 facemasks to support the fight against the coronavirus.
Tim Cook of Apple has indicated that the company would donate 9 million of the N95 protective facemasks.
Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Elon Musk of Tesla and Space X have also announced plans of donating 720,000 and at least 250,000 facemasks respectively.
The Vice President of the United States of America (USA), Mike Pence, announced Apple’s intended donation on Tuesday, March 24, 2020.
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Source: YEN.com.gh
