Chennai: The Google Doodle today gave the message of staying home and saving lives amid the coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic that has infected more than 10 lakh people has claimed the lives of over 53,000 people, worldwide.
The alphabets on the doodle are seen doing various activities like reading, playing musical instruments, gymming, and making phone calls while at home.
With isolation and social distancing being advocated as the only measures to stop the spread of the pathogen, the doodle too requests citizens across the globe to stay at home and avoid crowded places at all costs.Google has already launched a dedicated website to provide information on the Covid-19 pandemic.
The site, google.com/covid19, provides information on the pandemic, its symptoms, prevention, and treatment, along with useful links to reliable sources such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The dedicated site further shows a coronavirus map that is updated regularly.
It also provides resources on work from home, finding remote job opportunities, distance learning and more.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced $800 + million commitment to support small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), health organisations and governments, and health workers on the frontline of this global COVID-19 pandemic.
The announcement came on his official blog that read, ‘As the coronavirus outbreak continues to worsen around the world, itās taking a devastating toll on lives and communities. To help address some of these challenges, today weāre announcing a new $800+ million commitment to support small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), health organizations and governments, and health workers on the frontline of this global pandemic.’
Google will commit $250 million in ad grants to help the World Health Organization (WHO) and more than 100 government agencies globally provide critical information on how to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other measures to help local communities.
Tech giant Google will also provide $20 million in ad grants to community financial institutions and NGOs specifically to run public service announcements on relief funds and other resources for SMBs.
A $200 million investment fund will support NGOs and financial institutions around the world to help provide small businesses with access to capital. As one example, weāre working with the Opportunity Finance Network in the US to help fill gaps in financing for people and communities underserved by mainstream financial institutions.
The commitment also includes $340 million help in Google Ads credits available to all SMBs with active accounts over the past year.
Sundar also announced a pool of $20 million in Google Cloud credits for academic institutions and researchers to leverage our computing capabilities and infrastructure as they study potential therapies and vaccines, track critical data, and identify new ways to combat COVID-19.
Google CEO wrote, “Weāre working with our longtime supplier and partner Magid Glove & Safety, with the goal of ramping up production of 2-3 million face masks in the coming weeks that will be provided to the CDC Foundation.”
Additionally, employees from across Alphabet, including Google, Verily and X, are bringing engineering, supply chain and healthcare expertise to facilitate increased production of ventilators, working with equipment manufacturers, distributors and the government in this effort.
In addition to these commitments, Google also increased the gift match Google offers every employee annually to $10,000 from $7,500. That means our employees can now give $20,000 to organizations in their communities, in addition to the $50 million Google.org has already donated.
“Together, weāll continue to help our communitiesā including our businesses, educators, researchers and nonprofitsāto navigate the challenges ahead,” said Sundar Pichai.