India has more than 1 billion mobile subscribers, and more than 450 million active Internet users. A report by the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India and Nielsen revealed that users were spending at least 1.5 hours more on their smartphones, with the maximum internet usage numbers coming from the age groups of 35-44, while TV viewership jumped 6%. The survey also revealed that Indians were more tuned to news channels and news apps than ever before.

With a significant part of the Indian population under lockdown, and spending more time reading and watching news, the unavoidable trap of fake news was bound to ensnare the captive imagination of worried citizens. Be it exaggerated numbers of COVID19 positive cases, assumptions of the virus being transmitted by air, COVID19 being a lab-manufactured virus, or that drinking hot lemon & tea and consuming ginger will cure a person of COVID19 symptoms… fake news seemed to be spreading faster than the virus itself.

So much so, the WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated that the world is fighting not just a pandemic, but an infodemic! Governments across the world are working to combat the spread of improper, false information regarding COVID19. Tech giants and social networking giants are working aggressively to contain the spread of false information their platforms. One particular technology that can be very handy in curbing fake news is Artificial Intelligence. In the past few years, the relevance of AI has risen exponentially to curb the spread of fake news, and AI tools are being used extensively by media houses to do fact-checking. Already, Twitter is ramping up its capabilities in machine learning & automation to check manipulative, abusive and misleading information surrounding COVID19.

vPhrase Analytics Pvt Ltd is a global technology company that provides AI-powered business intelligence and reporting automation solutions using machine learning and natural language generation technology. Their product Phrazor is a configurable augmented reporting automation platform that helps enterprises include context and reasoning to their reports by adding dynamic commentary alongside charts. vPhrase is using Phrazor to democratize information on COVID19 by providing easy to understand updates on the pandemic on Phrazor Insights.

Founder Neerav Parekh says, “There are several dashboards available now, but none of them offer simple, easy to understand information and facts about COVID19. People are already on edge now and since we’re in the business of crunching complex data into simpler nuggets of information, we decided to apply this solution to combating the misinformation being spread about COVID19.”

vPhrase decided to stick to government data, which is actually being updated regularly and whose datasets are available for public use. Live data is taken from credible sites like

COVID19-India API – A volunteer-driven database for COVID19 stats and patient tracing

Johns Hopkins – Data on cases in USA, China, Canada, Australia and RoW, which are in turn from a combination of sources like WHO, CDC, ECDC, NHC, DXY, Worldmeters.info and more – all maintained by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.

Johns Hopkins API Data

Timeseries Data

Census Data/ Health Data & GDP Per Capita Income Data -  Data from the Open Government Data (OGD) platform in India

Using a proprietary AI-powered Natural Language Generation (NLG) Technology, Phrazor analyses, reasons and writes the data as simple, easy to comprehend information, available in four regional languages – Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi and Telugu. These updates are publicised on vPhrase’s website as well as social media channels with attractive images that simplify the message further. Having worked with a range of clients in BFSI, media, pharma and FMCG, decoding complex data and extracting insights, vPhrase has been able to build a vast language library, which they are leveraging for the current use case.

The need of the hour is to keep crucial data straightforward and impactful, says Parekh. “Right now, there’s too much information flowing through multiple channels and medium. It could lead to needless panic and confusion, causing more damage now than ever.”

Currently, Phrazor Insights is dispensing government data but Parekh and his team are confident of scaling their AI engines to work on different datasets such as data from healthcare organisations. “From a deployment perspective, we’re ready. We need visibility now to extend our services.”

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