Coronavirus helpline launched on WhatsApp

Islamabad: Ministry of Health on Tuesday launched the Pakistan Government Corona Helpline on WhatsApp. The service provides accurate, trustworthy and up-to-date information about coronavirus (COVID-19) in Pakistan. The helpline is an automated ‘chatbot’ service, which will allow citizens to get answers to most common questions about coronavirus from the Ministry of Health 24 hours a day.

The service will be available in English, Urdu, Punjabi, Pashto, Sindhi, Balochi, Kashmiri and will provide information on topics such as coronavirus prevention and symptoms, the latest number of cases, and other trustworthy health information.

To use the Helpline, simply save the number +92-300-1111166 in your phone contacts and then text any word in a WhatsApp message to get started.

A set of menu options is then presented which the user can choose from to receive guidance. The helpline has been built on the WhatsApp Business API, in partnership with the Digital Pakistan team and Infobip’s global communication platform to provide timely information to people about COVID-19. A number of Health Ministries around the world are already running coronavirus health information lines on WhatsApp, with more services expected to be launched in the coming days and weeks.