Download the all-new Republic app:

Published 07:44 IST, April 11th 2020

Apple, Google to work together & help health officials with contact tracing via Bluetooth

Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed that the tech giant was working with Sundar Pichai's Google to help health officials in contact tracing via Bluetooth technology

Reported by: Koushik Narayanan
Follow: Google News Icon
  • share
null | Image: self
Advertisement

In a move to scale up the efforts to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed that the tech giant was working with Google to help health officials in contact tracing via Bluetooth technology. Cook took to Twitter to reveal that Apple was going to be joining hands with Sundar Pichai's Google in order to help health officials harness Bluetooth technology with no compromise on transparency and privacy. Tim Cook pointed out that contact tracing could help slow down the rate of COVID-19 spread and said that it could be done without compromising on privacy. 

READ | With Social Distance, California’s Virus Forecast Brightens

Advertisement

Apple, Google join hands to help health officials

READ | White House Points To Hopeful Signs As Deaths Keep Rising

US records more than 2,000 deaths

The United States has become the first country to record more than 2,000 coronavirus deaths in one day. A total of 2,108 people died from the virus in the past 24 hours, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally. The country has now recorded 18,586 deaths, coming close to overtaking Italy as the country with the highest death toll. The latest figures for Italy show 18,849 deaths. The US is also approaching half a million confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 496,535 – an increase of 35,098 in the past 24 hours. 

Advertisement

READ | Tracking NYC’s Coronavirus Fight, From 911 Call To ER Door

However, the number of newly hospitalised patients in the hardest-hit state of New York has dropped to a one per cent increase. As of Friday, the New York metropolitan area accounted for more than half the nation’s over 18,000 deaths, with other hot spots in places such as Detroit, Louisiana, and Washington, D.C. The worldwide death toll from the new coronavirus has surpassed 101,000 amid about 1.6 million cases and more than 372,000 recoveries, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally.

Advertisement

READ | 'If China A Developing Country, Make US One Too' Says US Prez Donald Trump

07:44 IST, April 11th 2020