Indian High Commission in Canada deploys chatbot to answer queries on Covid-19

Given the overflow of queries coming in from Indians and people of Indian origin in Canada, the Indian embassy within the country has deployed cutting-edge IT tool within the variety of a chatbot to deal with concerns over the Covid-19 crisis.

The chatbot, called CANbot, has language conversation capabilities in English, Hindi and Punjabi and allows those seeking answers urgently to urge them “safely and securely”, either through a talk function on the High Commission’s website or on the genuine WhatsApp number.

The ability to instantly reply to the desperate questions regarding Covid-19, public safety measures are taken in India and Canada and restrictions on international travel, has become particularly critical given the impact the pandemic has had, especially with nearly 1.6 million persons of Indian-origin living in Canada.

Among them are nearly 200,000 Indian students at Canadian colleges and universities, and since such institutions have closed, there are concerns about this matter among their families in India, to not mention the problem of flying them back at a time when flights between the 2 nations are non-existent for the present. This move comes at the same time as the foreign ministers of the 2 countries discussed ways of handling the crisis of nationals seeking to return home.

The effort behind launching the chatbot was because the embassy “wanted to make service which will assist people during this emergency,” India’s envoy to Ottawa Ajay Bisaria said. The embassy yet because the Indian consulates in Toronto and Vancouver have witnessed “a massive surge in queries received thanks to the case arising from Covid-19 pandemic, including the disruption in international travel.” Bisaria said, “We empathise with people’s concerns in these troubled times and also to receive immediate and accurate information wherever they're.”

The bot has been developed for the embassy of India by the Indian conversational platform Verloop.io and residential healthcare company Portea Medical.