Providing people with coronavirus-related data most useful to them

Anushka Purohit and her friend Anupam Tiwari, both students in electrical engineering and computer sciences (EECS), were chatting in their dorm room, doing what they always do: brainstorming startup ideas.  

Existing websites and apps on the coronavirus gave random data to people, with no context or relevance, Purohit said. So they developed CoronApp, which provides people with localized, real–time data about the coronavirus based on the geographic location of their smartphones. 

“It gives you info specific to the user,” Purohit said.

Purohit and Tiwari teamed up with fellow EECS students Sahil Mehta and Daniel Smith, mechanical engineering student Ean Hall, and Akonkwa Mubagwa and Manuel Smith, both MBA students at the Haas School of Business.

Berkeley students from left, Akonkwa Mubagwa, Daniel Smith, Sahil Mehta, Anupam Tiwari, Anushka Purohit, Manuel Smith, and Ean Hall, who developed CoronApp. (Photo by Benny Johnson)

The app consists of three features. First, a geo-map tracks COVID-19 infections in counties across America based on information gleaned from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Johns Hopkins University and other public sources. For example, a user in Berkeley can find information about illnesses, deaths and recoveries for Alameda County. 

Second, a real-time Twitter feed about coronavirus-related news and posts. And third, a crowdsourcing platform that allows people to add data about hospitals, grocery stores, and other useful information to local users. 

Purohit also hopes to add a fourth feature: real–time information gleaned directly from hospitals about the virus. 

Since CoronApp launched two weeks ago, it has attracted as many as 7,800 users a day.  

“CoronApp is one platform that can give one person all of the information they need,” Purohit said.