Skip to Content
Biotechnology and health

A new CDC bot will tell you what to do if you have coronavirus symptoms

Health authorities around the world are using chatbots to keep people informed.
March 24, 2020
Women wearing face masks checking their phones
Women wearing face masks checking their phonesMohamed Hassan | Pixabay

The news: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has launched an online bot that people can use to decide what to do if they have potential coronavirus symptoms like a fever, cough, or shortness of breath. The hope is the self-checker bot will act as a form of triage for increasingly strained health-care services. The number of recorded cases in the US has surged past 46,000, the most after China and Italy.

You can read all our coverage of the coronavirus/Covid-19 outbreak for free, and also sign up for our coronavirus newsletter. But please consider subscribing to support our nonprofit journalism.

How it works: The bot asks users questions like their age, gender, and location, any symptoms they’re experiencing, and whether they may have encountered someone diagnosed with Covid-19. On the basis of their replies, it recommends the best next step. There are a variety of responses, from “Call 911” to “Stay home and take care of yourself.” The bot is not supposed to replace assessment by a doctor and isn’t intended to be used for diagnosis or treatment purposes, but it could help figure out who most urgently needs medical attention and relieve some of the pressure on hospitals. It was created using Microsoft Azure’s Healthcare Bot software.

Rise of the bots: Health authorities around the world are using chatbots to answer people’s pressing questions about coronavirus. The World Health Organization has partnered with WhatsApp to give people reliable information. If you text +41 79 893 1892 over WhatsApp, the WHO will reply with a menu of options offering infection statistics, debunked myths, travel advice, and so on. India has built a similar bot using WhatsApp too, and the UK’s National Health Service is planning to do the same.

Deep Dive

Biotechnology and health

Scientists are finding signals of long covid in blood. They could lead to new treatments.

Faults in a certain part of the immune system might be at the root of some long covid cases, new research suggests.

This baby with a head camera helped teach an AI how kids learn language

A neural network trained on the experiences of a single young child managed to learn one of the core components of language: how to match words to the objects they represent.

The next generation of mRNA vaccines is on its way

Adding a photocopier gene to mRNA vaccines could make them last longer and curb side effects.

Ready, set, grow: These are the biotech plants you can buy now

For $73, I bought genetically modified tomato seeds and a glowing petunia.

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.