14 DAY TRIAL // The informational coronavirus website prepared by Google and announced by US President Donald Trump would only be launched later this week, as the search giant says it needs a little more time to make sure it provides visitors with up-to-date information.
In a statement for The Verge, Google explains that the site, which will initially be limited to the United States, will also include information on screening and testing.
“Verily launched a pilot website late Sunday to counties in the Bay Area, and is working with authorities to scale this effort further. With local and national guidance evolving rapidly, Google will continue working with relevant agencies and authorities to roll out a website later this week that will surface authoritative information for people in the U.S., including on screening and testing,” Google says.
International version also planned
More specifics are unavailable for the time being, but the screening and testing part is clearly the one that’s getting most of the attention.
Most likely, Google will use information from a wide variety of sources, including the CDC and others, to display testing and screening locations on services like Google Search and Google Maps.
According to the linked source, while the website will first go live in the United States, the search giant is already planning to expand it internationally. An international site will also go live at some point in the near future, as Google says a Spanish version is already planned.
The search company says it wants to collect information from the WHO and the CDC to display on its informational site, albeit it could also work with local authorities for each country where the website goes live.
For now, Google sticks with basic recommendations published on the main search page, but it shouldn’t take too long before the informational site goes live in the US.