A Japanese medical advice app provider is making a limited time offer of a free app that allows users to seek advice from doctors about the coronavirus.
The free service, in Japanese only, is provided by Agree, a company based in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture. It also operates a medical advice app called Leber.
Users are asked to send information such as whether they have traveled to any places where COVID-19 has been confirmed or whether they have developed a fever.
With about 120 doctors registered for the service, users receive advice in about 30 minutes about the urgency of their condition, such as if they are suspected of having pneumonia and if they should seek advice from a public health center.
Usually a fee-based service, the app became available for free from Jan. 12 following the spread of the novel coronavirus originating in China.
Sena Taga, a public relations official for Agree, said the company has received user feedbacks such as the app makes it easier to seek medical advice than seeing a doctor.
The app is also expected to help prevent people who are worried they might have an infection from flocking to medical institutions, according to Taga.
The app was launched in January 2018. It was offered free of charge for people affected by heavy rains in western Japan in July 2018 and by a massive earthquake in southern Hokkaido in September the same year.
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