Some of the other new features include providing information about COVID-19 testing, vaccine availability and safety.

The COVID-19-related information provided by the virtual assistant is sourced from the CoWIN portal (the online vaccine booking portal of India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare) as well as MapmyIndia, a technology company providing map services, according to the statement.

The vaccination center locating feature can be accessed by asking: “Alexa, where can I get a COVID-19 test?” Doing so will draw up a list of all the nearest vaccination centers as well as the travel distance.

Users who want to search for vaccination centers near others can do so by using the “Vaccine Info Alexa skill.”

“This can be extremely useful if you are helping friends and family book appointments,” the company says.

Other new COVID-19-related features on India’s Alexa include providing the latest information on vaccination rates, which can be obtained by asking: “Alexa, how many people have been vaccinated in India?”

The aforementioned information can be obtained by asking: “Alexa, is COVID vaccine safe?” or “Alexa, how can I register for COVID vaccine?” or “Alexa, what is the COVID helpline number in [insert state].”

The latest new features on India’s Alexa come as total confirmed COVID-19 cases in India approach 31.8 million, with 425,757 total reported deaths, as of Wednesday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

India has the world’s second-highest number of confirmed cases, after the U.S., which has reported over 35.2 million confirmed infections, as of Wednesday, according to Johns Hopkins.

The seven-day average of cases as well as deaths in India began rising on a sharp incline from late March after declining and flattening out from around mid-September. Both figures peaked in May before flattening out from late June, according to data compiled by Worldometer.

More than 485.2 million vaccine doses have been administered in India, as of Wednesday, according to Johns Hopkins. The country is home to 1.3 billion people, according to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency website.

The Wider Picture

Coronavirus has infected more than 199.5 million people since it was first reported in Wuhan, China. More than 4.2 million people have died and over 4.1 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered worldwide, as of Wednesday, according to Johns Hopkins.

The graphic below, produced by Statista, shows the share of the population who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in different countries.