A chatbot is rewarding South Africans for completing coronavirus symptom checks via messenging platforms by awarding points that users can convert and redeem for online vouchers.

The concept was created by tech start-up Vollar, an online platform that allows organisations to incentivise and reward members of a community for doing volunteer work to help others in their area, as reported by BizCommunity. The pandemic, however, has impacted the start-up, hence its decision to launch Concorona.

In addition to enabling coronavirus self-check and awareness, the platform is designed to ‘help people access essential products and, in the process, bring new customers to small businesses’, according to Vollar founder Kyle Ueckerman.

Concorona users can earn points by completing daily symptom checks via Facebook’s or Moya’s messenging platforms. ‘Since launching Concorona, we’ve been able to onboard over 32 000 users, who have completed over 26 000 check-ups and 33 000 [coronavirus-related] quizzes,’ says Ueckerman.

11 August 2020
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