This week, we saw some major innovations to fight the spread of COVID-19 in India.
The Indian Government launched a dedicated tracker app for the public and a start-up made significant progress with an affordable ventilator, while companies like Microsoft and Facebook took steps to help those stuck at their homes.
Let’s look back at everything that happened throughout the week.
News #1
Aarogya Setu for contact warning, affordable ventilator
As the number of coronavirus positive cases continues to increase at a staggering pace, the government has launched Aarogya Setu, an app that can warn about contact with a potentially infected patient.
Additionally, to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed with the sudden spike in cases, Nocca Robotics, a Pune-based start-up, is building a ventilator that is three times more affordable the typical hospital ventilators.
News #2
ISRO designing ventilators capable of working without power
News #3
Microsoft and Facebook launched new video calling products
Tech giants Microsoft and Facebook launched new video calling products to the aid of billions of people who are indoors and desperate to get in touch with their friends and family.
The social network launched the Messenger app for Windows and macOS, while the Redmond giant launched Meet Now, a dedicated Skype feature for virtual meetings without any sign-up or download.
News #4
Zoom suffered from privacy debacles
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Apple’s FaceTime also created problems
News #5
YouTube’s TikTok competitor; new features for WhatsApp, Slack
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Some security scares are also surfaced
News #6
Finally, there were some tempting hardware launches
