Facebook expands COVID-19 Announcement tool to India

Facebook has announced the expansion of its COVID-19 Announcement tool to India to share crucial and timely updates. They have partnered with 33 states and Union Territories to roll out the new feature in their respective jurisdictions

Facebook is expanding the COVID-19 Announcement in India, which is a tool for the health departments of States and Union Territories to share essential COVID-19 related updates with their communities. This is part of their ongoing efforts to support the public health authorities' work to keep people safe and informed during the coronavirus public health crisis. 

India is the second country after the US to launch this feature and they have partnered with 33 states and Union Territories to roll this out in their respective jurisdictions. The COVID-19 Announcement feature will give health departments the ability to push out timely, credible COVID-19 and vaccine information to people in their local communities/ state jurisdictions. States will be able to issue these alerts statewide or to specific cities within their state.

COVID-19 Announcements can be used to communicate:

• Updates on hospital bed availability in districts.
• Accurate information on COVID-19 appropriate behavior
• Information on existing COVID-19 resources, such as helplines
• Preventive behavioral health measures to stop the spread of COVID-19
• Changes to existing COVID-19 rules and regulations that can impact communities.
• Day-to-day actions, such as lockdowns, night curfews, and changes to treatment protocols
• Information about vaccine eligibility and registration, and the logistics of acquiring a vaccine

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When posts by state health department pages on Facebook are marked as COVID 19 Announcements, Facebook amplifies their reach so that people located in the community are more likely to see them. They even send notifications to people located in the affected area, and will also show that information on the COVID-19 Information Centre. This will help distribute important and urgent updates related to COVID-19 or COVID-19 vaccination efforts to people in the community.