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You Can Now Check for Covid-19 Hotspots in Google Maps

Photo credit: Thomas Trutschel - Getty Images
Photo credit: Thomas Trutschel - Getty Images

From Esquire

Google has added a new COVID layer in its popular Maps app that shows you how prevalent Covid-19 cases are in your area.

The update is designed to help users make informed decisions about where to go and what to do during the pandemic.

'While getting around is more complicated these days, our hope is that these features will help you get where you need to be as safely and efficiently as possible,' said Sujoy Banerjee, Product Manager for Google Maps.

In the Google Maps app, the layers button in the top right-hand corner of the screen now contains a 'COVID-19 info' option.

The filter shows a seven-day average of new COVID cases per 100,000 people for the area of the map you’re looking at, while a label indicates whether the cases are trending up or down.

Areas are also colour-coded according to the density of new cases in them. Trending statistics are shown for the 220 countries and territories that Google Maps supports, along with county and city-level data where available.

Google says the data in the COVID layer comes from multiple sources, including Johns Hopkins University, the New York Times, and Wikipedia, which in turn get their data from public health organisations like the World Health Organization, government health ministries and state and local health agencies and hospitals.

The COVID layer starts rolling out worldwide on Android and iOS this week.

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