WhatsApp Covid-19 helper bot is an auto response whatsapp chat bot that answers questions concerning the novel coronavirus and the covid-19 disease. It also gives updates on the real time numbers related to the disease like the confirmed patients and fatalities. It also gives news around the world concerning the pandemic.
The bot sends updates on the pandemic without even asking but you can also ask using the help of the twilio whatsapp api. These are the instructions on how to use it. The bot uses keywords to figure out what you want, if your question does not include any of the keywords, then it can not help. These are the keywords:
- hi or hello - to get a helper menu containing the instructions
- helplines - to get the toll free lines to the Ministry of Health of Uganda.
- symptoms - to get the symptoms of the covid-19 disease.
- prevent ( or an equivalent ) - to get some steps on how to prevent yourself from catching the coronavirus.
- RDC - to get contacts of all RDCs In Uganda.
- news - to get an exclusive news article on covid-19
- Send any country's name to get a summary of their situation (try USA)
To use the bot you obviosly got to have whatsapp messenger installed either on pc or mobile. If that is all set, click this link below to join my twilio sandbox and enjoy.
Send the pre-filled message and you are all set.
The app uses a couple of resources for functionality:
- Backend - Laravel Framework, very powerful php framework.
- Frontend - good old html and css
- Twilio Whatsapp api
- This is the api that provides the covid data
- The app is deployed on Heroku
This app is open source and welcomes contributions.
The app is open-sourced software licensed under the MIT license.