As the number of coronavirus positive cases rise in the country, the telecom giant, Reliance Jio has rolled out a new symptom-checker for COVID-19. Using Twitter, reliance Jio declared that the new tool is available on the mobile phone application, and urged people to stay safe by knowing their symptoms.

As crores of Indians stay indoors to observe the nationwide 21-day lockdown, the big question on everyone’s minds is whether they have the symptoms of the novel coronavirus spreading havoc across the world. 

A simple cough, cold, or fever could be enough to provoke such thoughts, and resultant anxiety.

The symptom-checker works on a few questions that need to be answered, to determine the symptoms, and their reason.

The company tweeted : 

The questions range from who are you taking the test for, gender, age group, travel history of your own self, and the people around you, etc. After answering the series of questions, the result page shows you the risk of COVID-19, based on the information it just collected. The results page also shows a list of frequently asked questions, ICMR guidelines of COVID-19 testing, and the answers to the questions you just answered, in case you want to change any of them. 

The company had launched the #CoronaHaaregaIndiaJeetega campaign, for which this tool was developed. Reliance Jio board director Kiran Thomas told CNBC that “very powerful AI algorithms operate behind the scenes that are used to guide people step-by-step through the whole diagnosis process”, adding that AI algorithms analyse the data points being collected to generate a real-time map of how the situation is unfolding across India. 

He said that MyJio allows the company to rapidly roll the tool out to a large audience and allow policymakers to respond quickly and channelise resources where they will be most needed.

He added that the customer data being collected would be anonymised and stored.

The website also provides a list of testing centres and FAQs for common queries about the virus. It also has a section dealing with myths about the coronavirus, such as whether it can be defeated by eating garlic (no) or by using a hairdryer (also no). The answers were contributed by Dr Chetan Bhatt (MD General Medicine, DNB Gastroenterology), Dr Amrita Verma (MD General Medicine) and DR Shashikala Shivaprakash (MD Microbiology).