Qatar’s Government Communications Office (GCO) has launched a Coronavirus (COVID-19) Information Service on WhatsApp. The new service, which is free-to-use, provides a central source of accurate, trustworthy and up-to-date information about COVID-19..

The Coronavirus Information Service is an automated “chatbot” service that allows citizens and residents in Qatar to get answers to the most common questions about Coronavirus from the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) and the GCO 24 hours a day in six languages: Arabic, English, Urdu, Hindi, Nepali, and Malayalam. The service will provide information on topics such as Coronavirus prevention and symptoms, the latest number of cases, advice on staying at home, travel advice and mythbusting.

GCO Qatar Whatsapp ServicesTo use the free Coronavirus Information Service on WhatsApp, simply save the number +974 6006 0601 in your phone contacts, then send a WhatsApp message in any language to get started. The conversation can also be started via: https://wa.me/97460060601?text=Hi

The Coronavirus Information Service has been built on the WhatsApp Business API over a global communication platform by Infobip, an international IT and telecommunications company, to provide timely and critical information to the population about the virus. For more advanced queries, the chatbot can also direct users to online resources.