coronavirus
A security bug in health app Docket exposed COVID-19 vaccine records
A security bug in the health app Docket exposed the private information of residents vaccinated against COVID-19 in New Jersey and Utah, where the app received endorsements from state officials. Docke
Facebook will require employees to be vaccinated before returning to campus
Earlier today, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced that the company will require employees to be vaccinated before returning to work on-site. It was part of a larger letter sent to Google/Alphabet staf
Want to work at a Google campus? You’ll need to be vaccinated
While the rise of the Delta variant is extending the company’s work-from-home policy through October 18, it’s not entirely clear what happens after that date.
Class, a Zoom-only virtual classroom, nears unicorn status after SoftBank check
Class, a virtual classroom that integrates exclusively with Zoom, announced today that it has raised $105 million in a financing led by SoftBank Vision Fund II. The 10-month-old startup has now raised
IFA Berlin 2021 is canceled, citing ‘uncertainties’ around vaccine rollouts
After IFA became one of an extremely small number of in-person trade shows in 2020, the gfu Consumer & Home Electronics GmbH is pulling the plug on this year’s event. Initially planned for Septe
Google begins surfacing vaccine centers, hospital beds, oxygen info in India
Google, which reaches more than half a billion people in India, is turning its services into tools to help the world’s second-largest internet market fight the pandemic. Google said on Monday it
Walmart’s Flipkart to cover insurance for all sellers in India and waive additional fees
Walmart-owned Flipkart is exempting storage and cancellation fees for sellers on its marketplace and also providing them with insurance coverage as the top e-commerce platform in India looks to mainta
Facebook rolls out vaccine finder tool in India, donates $10 million
Facebook has announced a $10 million grant to support emergency response efforts in India and has rolled out its Vaccine Finder tool in the country as the South Asian nation grapples with the latest w
India’s entrepreneurs and investors are mobilizing to help the nation fight COVID-19 — and you can too
At a time when much of the world has asserted great control over containing the spread of the coronavirus, with countries increasingly vaccinating its citizens, a different story is playing out in Ind
India orders Twitter and Facebook to take down posts critical of its coronavirus handling
Twitter and Facebook have taken down about 100 posts in India, some of which were critical of New Delhi’s handling of the coronavirus, to comply with an emergency order from the Indian governmen
Can the tech trade show return in 2021?
The past year has been a devastating one for the conference industry. It’s certainly an issue we’ve grappled with here at TechCrunch, as we’ve worked to move our programming to a virtual setting
Facebook to label all COVID-19 vaccine posts with pointer to official info
Facebook will soon label all posts discussing the coronavirus vaccination with a pointer to official information about COVID-19, it said today. It also revealed it has implemented some new “temp
Indian state government website exposed COVID-19 lab test results
A security flaw in a website run by the government of West Bengal in India exposed the lab results of at least hundreds of thousands of residents, though likely millions, who took a COVID-19 test. The
EU to propose a ‘digital pass’ for COVID-19 vaccination/test status to help safer travel
The European Commission has said it will present a legislative plan later this month for what it’s calling a “digital green pass” — aka a digital certificate — which it s
Mount Sinai study finds Apple Watch can predict COVID-19 diagnosis up to a week before testing
A new study from Mount Sinai researchers published in the peer-reviewed “Journal of Medical Internet Research” found that wearable hardware, and specifically the Apple Watch, can effective
Didi to subsidize trips for vaccinations with $10M global fund
As countries around the world prepare to vaccinate people against the coronavirus, tech companies are rushing to demonstrate their willingness to help fight the deadly virus. China’s ride-hailin
African edtech startup uLesson lands a $7.5 million Series A
ULesson, an edtech startup based in Nigeria that sells digital curriculum to students through SD cards, has raised $7.5 million in Series A funding. The round is led by Owl Ventures, which closed over
Amazon offers Biden resources for COVID-19 vaccine rollout
Following Joseph Biden’s swearing in as the 46th president of the United States, Amazon is offering help in the administration’s stated goals for rolling out the COVID-19 vaccine. In a letter prov
Europe is working on a common framework for ‘vaccine passports’
The European Union is preparing the ground for vaccine passports. A common approach for mutual recognition of vaccination documentation is of the “utmost importance,” the commission said t
Google to add COVID-19 vaccine information panels to Search
Google announced today it’s introducing a new search feature that will surface a list of authorized vaccines in users’ locations, as well as informational panels about each individual vacc