The Indian Government had originally issued a 21-day lockdown across the nation from the 25th of March till April 14th. However, with the COVID-19 Novel Corona Virus only getting worse, the nation-wide lockdown has since been extended till May 3rd. In such a difficult time, quite a few rumours are being spread by miscreants and a lot of false information is doing the rounds in society. Many fake updates are actually drowning out the official updates from the Central and State Governments and the right information is not reaching the people, who are being mislead by phony updates, during these testing times. As a means of combating this, the Tamil Nadu Government has come up with a new initiative!

The Tamil Nadu government has now launched a new WhatsApp Chatbot, to provide all the latest & authentic information as well as proper guidance to the people, to prevent the spread of the Corona Virus. This has been launched with the motive to quell all false rumours and fake news. People can save +91-8939111332 on their phone numbers and use WhatsApp to text "Hi" to the number. The Chatbot will then guide the people with their requirements! This service has been made available in both English and Tamil, to facilitate better & authentic information spread among the people!

Check out the tweet here:

#TNGovt launches WhatsApp chatbot for providing latest information and guidance related to #COVID19 in both Tamil & English. Kindly save +91-8939-111-332 number and follow the prompts for info. #StayHome
For more information visit: https://t.co/aaU3n6fgDH pic.twitter.com/lcaUUOlgW4

— National Health Mission - Tamil Nadu (@NHM_TN) April 21, 2020