Government calls in technology companies to help fight coronavirus

Technology leaders will be asked to pledge their “data, assets and expertise” to combat the outbreak of COVID-19

The government has called the heads of major technology companies into a meeting later today to ask them for their help in fighting the spread of COVID-19, the coronavirus that broke out in Wuhan, China, in December.

The meeting will be chaired by the Prime Minister's chief advisor, Dominic Cummings, who is expected to ask the companies to pledge their "data, assets and expertise" to support the government's response to the outbreak.

Their analytics are intended to help the government formulate a more targeted response to the outbreak compared to the response taken by China and Italy in locking down entire towns and regions.

Buzzfeed News claims that the draft agenda will ask the companies to provide back-end data, modelling and analytics, dashboards and visualisation tools and the means to reach potentially vulnerable and isolated groups.

Downing Street will also ask the tech firms to allocate staff to COVID-19-related projects, possibly even seconding staff to the NHS. It wants the companies to use their expertise to model the spread of the disease, enabling the government to also model the impact of potential interventions.

The government also want companies like Google, Facebook and Twitter to ensure that people are provided with the official advice when they search for coronavirus or COVID-19-related information.

The meeting will take place at 7pm, coinciding with a statement expected from health secretary Matt Hancock, but coming after a Budget from Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak that is expected to include a number of hurriedly put-together measures intended to ameliorate the worst economic effects of the outbreak.