Google donates $800 million to help combat coronavirus

BEIRUT: Tech giant Google announced on its blog on Friday that it is pledging $800 million to support the World Health Organization as well as businesses and health organizations fighting the novel coronavirus.

Most of the money, however, comes in the form of free advertising to these institutions. $250 million in ad grants will be given to the World Health Organization (WHO) and other government agencies providing information on combating COVID-19's spread, according to CNN.

Another part of that pledge includes donating "2-3 million face masks" to the CDC Foundation, Google CEO Sunday Pichai announced, where he said that the company is working with supplier Magid Glove & Safety to ramp up production of the masks in the coming weeks.

The post also detailed the larger effort by Google to donate $340 million in Google Ads credits to help support small- and medium-sized businesses, health organizations, and academic institutions. Those credits can be used at any point until the end of the year, Business Insider reported.

Meanwhile, $20 million is being allocated in Google Cloud credits for researchers and academic institutions who are studying vaccines, therapies, and other data to help contain the spread of COVID-19.

This is the latest example of tech stepping in to help combat the spread of COVID-19. Apple just released a COVID-19 screening app backed by the CDC, while Alphabet's Verily is ramping up its testing sites in California. Facebook, meanwhile, donated 720,000 masks to US health workers last week, according to The Independent.